A Rose By Any Other Name
by vampireunicorn101
Summary: In the town of Lyfton werewolves and vampires have been feuding for centuries. When Naruto, werewolf of the Senji pack, finds out that his fated mate is none other than Sasuke Uchiha of the Uchiha vampires, he knows that he will do whatever it takes to keep his mate. Is the bond between them strong enough to hold them together, when everything around them wants to tear them apart?
1. Prologue

**A/N: So, I had an idea to do a NaruSasu Romeo and Juliet story, and I had an idea to do one with werewolves and vampires...for some reason, the two ideas merged in my head, and this story is the result of that. **

**The below prologue is just setting the scene, Chapter One will be uploaded straight after. Currently I have 3 chapters done, so I plan to upload one a week until I run out. I'm hoping that the story will end before that happens, because I do want to update regularly. **

**So here it is, please let me know what you think ^^**

**(I will be filling in on how my vampires & werewolves work in the coming chapters, but will answer any questions you may have about them :) )**

A Rose by Any Other Name

Prologue

The town of Lyfton straddled the River Lyf like an ungainly water bird with it's wings spread open, something it had done for over a thousand years, as crude hovels gave way to grander, more modern buildings. It's history could be seen easily, even by a casual eye; some of the older houses could claim a lineage back to the sixteenth century, while the whole of the High Street at the centre of town boasted the flamboyant style of the Victorian medieval revival. Even the housing estate that had been thrown down on the outskirts of town in the 60's was now old enough to be considered quaint.

However, it was not the town's age that made it stand out from the rest, certainly not placed as it was in the middle of England's Southern Downs where History was mandatory to existence. It's inhabitants were what made the town unique in a sea of history. To the North of the river lived the Uchiha vampires, while the south side was colonised by the Senju werewolves. The human inhabitants of Lyfton, while more numerous than their supernatural counterparts, wisely accepted the presence of the wolves and vampires as a necessary part of life. After all, they had been there as long as the town had.

And that was a history that nowhere else could claim. Legend had it that the forebears of both lines, Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama, had both left Japan in a quest to circumnavigate the globe over five hundred years before Columbus decided to try the same thing. They didn't manage to discover the Americas, deciding instead to travel across land through Asia and Europe, before deciding on some whim to settle down on the small island they found at the edge of Europe. No one knows why; maybe they got bored of travel. Although both vampires and werewolves can claim a certain level of immortality, neither of the forebearers remained alive to comment on their reasons.

Regardless of why, they had settled down, built a castle each, and took native wives. Peace reigned in their little town, regardless of the strife in the country around it for years, the population of wolves and vampires slowly growing, and that of the humans too, though at a faster rate. Then something changed; the werewolves claimed that a vampire bit and drained one of their cubs, the vampires insisted that the wolves had savaged one of their children. Either way, a bitter blood feud was declared between the former allies. The humans of the town were forced to chose sides, and a bitter conflict ensued, each felony committed by one side on the other adding to the list of heinous crimes.

Vampires died, wolves died, and time passed. Truces were declared and broken; when civil war broke out, the vampires would take the side that the wolves didn't, and vice versa. Bad blood spread and stained the land, but both clans refused to leave the land that they both claimed.

The violence dropped as the modern era settled in, but no vampire would tolerate a wolf's presence, and the wolves' hackles would rise at the slightest scent of a vampire. A sort of uneasy peace settled through the twentieth century, with occasional sparks of conflict lighting the area. The heirs of Uchiha and Senju bore Japanese names, but adopted the Western tradition of ordering them with the family name last. Visitors to the town passed through quickly unless they were actually seeking out the supernatural creatures that lived there, made uneasy by the simmering atmosphere; a volcano, waiting to go off. All that it needed to ignite it was one small spark.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Naruto Uzumaki stepped off the bus in the centre of Lyfton after more than a decade away. He glanced around, looking for any changes. As usual, they were all small; a Starbucks where the old coffee shop used to be, new paving slabs and digitalised signs showing the bus times. Most of the other shops on the high-street were the same, mainly local or family run businesses, with the odd franchise here and there. The path edging the river was the same, the stone walled park, the vaguely delicious smell that came from the other side of the river; the one he could never find the source of. He had almost forgotten that smell, but now he filled his lungs with it. That, more than anything made him feel at home.

He hurried along the riverside path, suddenly desperate to get home, to see his friends and family. As a werewolf, nothing was more important to him than his pack, and as nice as his adopted pack in Canada had been, he would always be a wolf of the Senju Pack. Well, there was one thing that was more important to a wolf, and that was the reason he had been away. He was close to fifty, although like all other werewolves he looked like he was in his early twenties, and he had still not found his mate. All werewolves were born in fated pairs; the only problem was finding their other half, the one that completed them. The gods liked to play games, and often werewolves had to go on long journeys to find their mates. It was rare for mates to be born in the same country, never mind the same village or town. Naruto's father had always said that it was some sort of bizarre form of birth control for creatures who were essentially immortal. His mother tended to think that it was just one big cosmic joke. After all, werewolves might well live forever, or at least until they were killed, but a female was only fertile in the first one hundred years of life.

Either way, Naruto was still single after spending the last twelve years scouring the American continent. He was just about ready to give up, and let his mate find him. He had a suspicion that he would never find his mate, because he didn't have one; wolves mated male to female, and in all of his years, Naruto had never been attracted to a female. It had been the same for his father, or so he had thought, his mother going on and on about how she was the first and only woman that he would ever love. Naruto had thought that there was some hope for him, until his father had taken him to one side, and explained that he liked men and women equally. He had made Naruto promise to never tell his mother. She was by no means the first woman his father had been with, but he liked to let her think that she was. Thanks, dad. Minato had looked worried when Naruto had explained that this wasn't the case for him, forcing a grin, and telling him that everything would work out.

The problem was, Naruto had met other gay wolves in his travels, and none of them were mated, either. Naruto shook his head, as if he could shake all the negative thoughts away. So what if he never found his mate? Not everyone had one. _Although, most of the people without mates are younger than you_, his treacherous mind whispered to him.

"Shut up," Naruto muttered to himself, his good mood at being back at home withering and dying like a leaf in the winter.

With a deep sigh he adjusted his backpack, and carried on along the road.

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He found his family home completely unchanged from when he had left, which was a bit of a surprise, as his mother was constantly modernising. His family had lived there for over one hundred years; his mother had left Japan, planning on finding her distant relative, Hashirama Senju. On the way she had found her mate, and lost two of her cousins who were travelling with her to a vampire attack. Kushina Uzumaki fit right into the vampire hating culture of Lyfton; it was the one thing in which she was completely irrational.

Naruto had been born in that house; a miracle baby, since Kushina had technically been past child bearing age. The small garden out the front, and the bigger one in the back reminded him of afternoons spent planting and tending flowers with his mother. The dull russet of the bricks was weathered, the paint on the guttering starting to flake. Naruto wondered why his mother had let the place go; she was normally so house proud.

With a shrug he pushed open the gate, frowning at the squeak, and made his way to the front door.

"Hello," he called out as he pushed the door open; surely they remembered that he was coming back today? They were getting better at reading and replying to emails, and he had even told them his flight time. With a sigh Naruto dropped his bag in the entrance, and made his way through the house. The place was looking a little dusty, as if it hadn't been cleaned in a while, but there were signs of life; like the dirty plates left in the sink, and the golden fur on the sofa that suggested that someone had come home in wolf form and decided to just not shift back for a while. Naruto grinned to himself. He didn't know where his mum was, but she was going to kill his dad when she saw the mess he had made.

"Dad? Where are you?" Naruto called out, glancing out of the kitchen window. He rolled his eyes as he saw the golden wolf sunning himself on the back lawn. He pushed open the back door. It was a good thing that they lived in a neighbourhood populated exclusively by wolves. Even the humans who knew about them would no doubt find the sight of a giant wolf with a coat the same colour as a golden retriever's a bit disconcerting.

The wolf looked at him, and let out a small yip before standing up. His body began to shake as he began the transition from wolf to man, and Naruto looked away. As often as he had done it himself, watching someone change from wolf to human or vice versa had always made him a little bit queasy.

When he looked back, his dad was already wrapping a towel around his waist, a broad grin on his face. "I didn't realise what time it was," he said. "I was going to pick you up from the airport. Welcome home, son."

He grabbed Naruto, and wrapped him in a fierce hug. Naruto grinned, holding his father tightly. It was good to be home.

He followed his dad back into the house, smiling as he rooted around the dryer for some clothing. His father had likely been in wolf form all day; his mother often said that he was more wolf than man.

"Where's mum?" Naruto asked, suddenly reminded of her absence.

Minato sighed as he slipped a t-shirt over his head. "She's gone on a vampire hunt," he said.

"But I thought that we were at peace with them?"

"We were. Still are, technically. A rogue vampire passed through a few years back, and did some damage. Obviously the Uchiha insisted that it was nothing to do with them, and they would sort it, but a lot of the others, your mother included, didn't believe them."

"She's been gone for years and you didn't think to tell me?"

"We didn't want to worry you. She got the bastard, anyway, and is on her way home. Or she was, but then another vampire appeared..."

Naruto sighed. His mother was bubbly, and kind, open minded and friendly, but she had an obsessive hatred of vampires. He couldn't say that he was fond of them himself, but in all his years living in Lyfton he had never had a problem with them. His mother would occasionally go on a rant about how they had killed his family, and that he should care, but mainly left the subject alone.

"She really wants to see you, though. So as soon as this one is taken care of she'll be right back."

Naruto glanced around the house. "In that case, you'd better start tidying the place up," he said.

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Naruto finished unpacking fairly quickly. Depressingly quickly; he really needed more stuff. He had been living on his own for years, so it was strange to be back in the family home. He supposed that he should look for a place of his own, but before he did that he wanted to decide what he did next; it would be pointless to get a place, then decide that he was going to travel again. But if he was honest with himself, he was bored of travelling. Tsunade had said that there would always be a position open at the Lyfton police station for him when he left. She had emailed him recently to reiterate this, so he knew if he stayed he had a job. It would mean not looking for his mate, but he had already sort of decided to do that.

Naruto sat down on his bed with a small sigh, wishing that he had a bit more direction. He didn't want to stop looking for his mate, but he was sure there was more to life than being mated. If he was right, and he had no mate, then he was a complete person all by himself. He could have as many lovers as he wanted; he wouldn't be bound to just one person.

A knock on the door interrupted his internal pep-talk. Before he could call out a "come in," the door crashed open, and two bodies flew at him with a cry of: "Narutooooo!"

Naruto gasped as the air was knocked out of him, and he was pinned under the weight of his two best friends.

Kiba and Sakura were giggling like maniacs as they lay on top of him; an elbow caught him in the jaw, and someone's knee came painfully close to his groin. Naruto somehow managed to sit up and push them off of him. Werewolves were pretty tactile, but there was only so much full body contact he could take from them before it became creepy.

Kiba and Sakura were a mated pair; the lucky bastards had actually grown up together, and known they were mates from the age of five. The bond between mates was partly emotional and partly sexual, and was fully formed once the relationship was consummated. Until the consummation itself, mates were pretty much in heat for each other, which made puberty interesting for both Kiba and Sakura. Their parents had somehow managed to keep them apart for almost a year, not wanting them to mate so young. In the end, with a little help from Naruto, they had managed to get together, and the deed was done. After that, no one had seen any need to keep them apart. Naruto had always envied them, wishing that he had a partner perfect for him the way they were for each other. It was part of the reason why he had been trying so hard to find his own mate.

Sakura and Kiba sat in front of him, grinning like sharks.

"We missed you," Sakura said. "Why did you have to stay away so long?"

Naruto shrugged. "I just wanted to make sure, you know," he said.

A look of sympathy appeared on Sakura's face, and she pulled him into a tight hug. "I believe he's out there, somewhere," she said.

"Or she," Kiba added.

Sakura rolled her eyes at him. "Naruto's mate is definitely a he," she said. "And when I'm proven right, you will pay up."

"I can't believe you two are betting on the gender of my non-existent mate," Naruto said.

"Naruto may be gay, but mates are always paired male to female," Kiba said, as if he wasn't sitting right there. "There's no way he's the only gay werewolf in history, so if wolves could be paired male to male, it would have happened before, and we would have heard of it."

"And I think it has happened, and they're just keeping quiet about it."

Kiba rolled his eyes, and glanced at Naruto. "You know she wants to set up a gay werewolf dating site," he said.

"Werewolves are so backwards in their heteronormativity," Sakura said. "Look at vampires, they've been screwing anything that moves for years, regardless of gender, and it hasn't hurt them."

"Don't let my mother hear you say that," Naruto said. "Besides, vampires don't mate for life. And they feed off sex; when you're hungry I doubt the gender of the meal is really going to be an issue. It's completely different for us."

"Yeah, with the woman at home taking care of the cubs. You know, female werewolves still do this? If a vampire tried to make his wife or whatever be a full time mother against her will, she'd snap his neck."

Naruto glanced at Kiba to see if he knew the source of this rant.

"Sakura's been talking to some vampires," he said. "It wasn't intentional, we just decided to go to a bar on the other side of the river, because why not? It's stupid to have this whole our side your side thing stopping us from going to certain parts of the town. Only it turned out this was a vampire bar..."

"They're not actually that different from us," Sakura interjected.

Naruto held his arm's up as if to fend them off. "Hey, I'm not my mother, I don't care if you hang out with vampires," he said. "Though I bet you'd be in so much trouble if you get caught."

"And how stupid is that?" Sakura exclaimed. "We used to be friends, but because of a few bad vampires everything went crazy, and we've been holding a grudge for years, and no one really knows why."

if his mother was there, she would have a grudge list as long as his tail, but Naruto couldn't be bothered to dredge it up. In a way, he agreed with Sakura. The feud was stupid, but what could they do? Most of the werewolves felt like his mother, and he was sure that if he asked the vampires, they would say the same thing. Maybe Kiba and Sakura had found a few like minded vampires, but the rest no doubt had their fangs as firmly in the grudge as the wolves did.

"Well, this kind of brings us to why we came to see you," Kiba said, suddenly looking awkward.

"You mean you didn't come to see me to welcome me back after years away?"

"Well, that too. But mainly it was because we...well..."

"There's a party at the Uchiha mansion tonight, and we're going to crash it," Sakura said.

Naruto stared at her. "What?"

"There's a party at the Uchiha-"

"No, I mean why? Why would we do that? We could be killed if they find out who we are, it could start the fighting all over again."

Sakura sighed and shook her head as if he was a slightly dull child who just couldn't understand simple maths. "Naruto, that is exactly the sort of thinking we're trying to stop. It's ridiculous to spilt a whole town by species because of something that happened a hundred years ago. We need to approach the vampires, properly. The peace treaty we have with them now is ludicrous; we should be working together. So I was thinking if you came with us, and saw how similar we are, then you could help me to petition the elders to approach the vampires again with a renewed treaty that scraps the boarders, and the segregation."

"Also, I've heard vampire parties are hot. They have orgies and all sorts. Obviously I wouldn't participate in an orgy," Kiba added as Sakura glared at him, "but Naruto could."

Naruto glanced between his friends. He shouldn't, not really. It was a mistake, and they could get into a lot of trouble. If the vampires didn't kill them the other wolves might. But the risk had his blood pumping in a way it hadn't for years. They could get in trouble, but only if they got caught. Besides, he'd lived in the town all his life, apart from his years abroad, and he had never so much as crossed the river. He was curious, curious to see the vampire side of town, and maybe even find the source of the scent that had been captivating him for years.

Naruto grinned. "Ok, let's crash the party," he said.

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Sasuke leaned against a pillar watching the party, and contemplated going to bed. Alone. He was bored; bored of the music, the alcohol, the sex. He was even bored of the taste of blood. Everything was flavoured with a frustrating ennui that made him want to curl up somewhere for a few centuries. Normally he enjoyed his parents' parties; the taste of sex and the smell of blood in the air. He would stay up until the dawn and go to bed sated, but recently he was just...bored. He could see why some vampires went on crazy killing sprees; anything to get rid of the crushing boredom of living forever and doing nothing. Maybe if he was a lesser vampire they would at least let him leave for a while, but he was an Uchiha, and Uchiha did not leave their land.

Sasuke snorted under his breath. God forbid that the werewolves finally got the territory they had been growling about for years. Not that he would ever say that, and certainly not to his father, who would go into a rage at the very mention of the word wolf. Maybe that was why his ancestors had started fighting the wolves in the first place, they were just bored.

"Sasuke."

He turned at the sound of his name, to see Karin, Suigetsu and Juugo.

"You need to eat something," Karin said. "If you don't fancy fucking, there are humans here, too."

"Thanks, but I think I'll manage," Sasuke replied, hoping they would go away. That wasn't like him, either. He had already turned them away once tonight; judging from their dishevelled states they had spent the last hour or so fucking, which was the only way vampires could feed from each other. It was also the main reason why vampires weren't monogamous, as it was quite hard to have sex and not feed. And why they were very careful when feeding off of humans. The last thing they needed was a dead human to justify the werewolves dislike of them.

Karin bit her lip, as if she was tempted to push further, but she let the other two lead her away. Sasuke sighed. He liked Karin; if nothing else, she was one of the very few vampires who could shape shift. Sasuke only knew of two others; her cousin Nagato and himself. Nagato was a bit weird, though, so if Sasuke wanted to go for a run, Karin was the one who went with him. Not that he got to that much; his father hated his ability. He always said that they risked the wolves finding out. Once, when he was high on spiked blood he had insisted that Sasuke was no better than a filthy wolf, never mind that his animal form was a black panther. Not that his father had ever seen it, or even cared to.

Sasuke sighed. He longed for the party to be over. Maybe he should just sneak away, shift into his panther form and stalk through the grounds, maybe even go beyond the grounds. Maybe he should leave and just run and run and run. But he didn't think that that would make anything better. He felt hollow inside, like he was missing something significant, and recently the feeling had become worse. And there was that strange scent; he had always thought that he could smell it because of his panther, but Karin had never been able to scent it. It had started maybe thirty or so years ago, and he noticed it whenever he went down to the river; a delicious smell, warm, and sweet, like the moonlight, but hotter. It had gone away for a while, but when Sasuke had woken up that evening and gone down to the river it was back.

And the longing to sink his fangs into it was deeper than ever. He wondered if that was what had him in a strange mood. It was probably just a bakers; he had never eaten cake, but he had been told it was good. Maybe he was just yearning after cake.

Sasuke pushed himself away from the pillar, shaking his head at his own foolishness, then paused, struck by the strange scent, but a million times stronger. Sasuke glanced around the room to see if anyone else had smelled it. No one seemed effected; no one seemed to have noticed it. Sasuke begun to wonder something, but then stopped. Frozen, his eyes met a pair of blue ones across the room, and the world seemed to stop. The thought he had had faded as if it had never been as those blue eyes and that scent pulled him in coherent thought vanished, and all he knew was want; desperate want for the man standing across the room from him.

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Naruto didn't know if it was Sakura's connections, or if vampire security really was that lax, but it was incredibly easy to get into the party; they literally walked through the front door.

Inside, Naruto immediately realised that this was unlike any party he had ever been to. Werewolf parties, by and large, were child friendly. This wasn't. There were plenty of humans present; blood donors, Naruto assumed. And they were dressed provocatively, as if to display their wares. Naruto remembered that blood was not the only source of sustenance to vampires. Obviously the humans knew this too. Several of the girls in particular had him feeling quite cold with how much they weren't wearing. The music was heavy and bassy, the sort of music that you felt pumping through your body. It wasn't too loud, vampire hearing being as acute as werewolves', but it was definitely a tangible presence.

They passed a couple who were either dancing or copulating; it could have been either, and Naruto didn't want to look to closely in case it was the latter.

"Toto, we are definitely not in Kansas any more," Kiba murmured to him.

Sakura vanished into the crowd, obviously having found her vampire friends. "Are you ok with her being alone here?" Naruto asked.

Kiba shrugged. "She's probably safer than we are," he replied.

"Comforting, thanks," Naruto murmured to him. He sort of wished he hadn't come. He had almost turned back a couple of times, except the scent was back, and it was stronger. He was almost certain that it came from this house somewhere, which was slightly disturbing. Why would something he wanted so badly be in the middle of a nest of vampires?

He leaned against a pillar and scanned the room, hoping that there wasn't any obvious blood drinking going on. He paused as his eyes locked with a pair of dark ones across the room, and every thing seemed to stop. The music muted, as if he were listening to it underwater, and suddenly he was hyper aware of the pounding of his pulse. He knew this feeling, had been searching for it for his whole life, but had never thought that he would find it here.

The man standing across the room from him, wide eyed, was his mate.

Naruto had known that if he really had a mate, he would be male. He hadn't expected him to be anything other than wolf. And he doubted that his mate was a wolf, not in the middle of a group of wolf hating vampires. Any wolf who willingly did that must be a moron. _Like me._ Or a prisoner; his mate wasn't shackled. So maybe human? It had happened before. Not that it mattered; he was Naruto's mate, and that was all that mattered. He took a step forward, every particle of his being clamouring for him to claim his mate.

Kiba's hand on his arm stopped him. He turned and snarled at his best friend.

"Whoa! What's your problem?" Kiba demanded, backing away.

"That's my mate," Naruto replied, before starting off again.

"Damn, I guess Sakura wins," Kiba muttered.

Naruto didn't hear him, he was too focused on his mate.

Sakura appeared at Kiba's shoulder, nibbling on a sausage from the buffet set up for the human guests. "What do I win?" She asked.

"The bet. Naruto's mate is male."

"Naruto's mate is here? Where?"

Kiba gestured to where the blond was about to accost the dark haired man up against the pillar at the other end of the room. "There," he said. "The pale one...the pale one next to Naruto."

Sakura looked where he was pointing, and blanched to a vampiric hue herself. "No, he can't be Naruto's mate." She said.

Kiba frowned at her. "What do you mean? I thought you would be jumping up and down for joy?"

"Idiot; that is Sasuke Uchiha. He's like the closest thing to vampire royalty here, and the direct descendant of Madara. Kiba, this can't be right. He can't have a vampire mate."


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you to missbip0lar, Renae Shnucumbs, . , ToXicStArCaNdy, xNeTsUx and .fish who reviewed chapter one :)**

**Also, big thanks to all who favourited this story.**

**Here's chapter Two; hope you all enjoy. Please let me know what you think ^^**

Chapter Two

Sasuke felt his heart pound so fast that it threatened to beat it's way right out of his chest as the blond man came closer and closer. He was the source of the scent, Sasuke realised. But it was a distant realisation, buried deep under the need to have this man in every way possible. Sasuke wanted to sink his fangs into him, sink his cock into him; spread himself open and let this man take him over and over again. He had lusted over people before, for their bodies and for their blood, but never like this. It wasn't that he wanted this man; he needed him. The thought should probably have scared him, and would have if he wasn't desperate for just one taste of him.

Naruto was handling the experience a bit better, because unlike Sasuke he knew what to expect. Even though this was the last place he would have expected to meet his mate, he had been preparing for this moment for years. So he took his time, slowly approaching his mate, taking in every detail he could about the man. He was maybe an inch or so shorter than Naruto, slender, with carefully styled black hair, and midnight dark eyes that seemed to draw Naruto in if he stared at them for too long. His clothing was black; a simple button down shirt and tight jeans that clung in all the right places. Naruto suppressed a groan, and picked up his pace. All the black made his mate look as pale as some of the vampires around them, most of whom were giving him a wide berth, but at the same time shooting surreptitious glances his way. It was a strange attitude to have to a human, and Naruto wondered again if his mate might be some wolf being kept by the vampires.

Naruto may have had enough presence of mind to notice all this, but his attention was still totally riveted on the dark haired man in front of him, so he did not see Sakura's frantic gesticulating. Sakura bit her lip, unsure of what to do next. She definitely didn't want to draw too much attention to the scene playing out before their eyes as Naruto reached Sasuke's side. If any of the vampires realised what was going on between their prince and a werewolf, all hell would break loose. She hoped that Naruto was mistaken. Sasuke could have been fishing; she had heard other vampires speak of how they released their pheromones to draw in their prey. Except even from where she stood, Sasuke looked stunned. She watched him shake as Naruto curled one hand around his wrist and leaned in to whisper in his ear.

There was no way they were going to be able to stop this from happening; trying to keep Naruto away from Sasuke in that big, crowded room would only cause a scene. And that was the best case scenario. She and Kiba would just have to run damage control, and make sure no one in the room realised what was happening.

She glanced around the room to see if anyone else had noticed the charged moment between the two men; a few had, but nobody seemed too concerned. An advantage of being at a vampire party, she supposed.

"What are we going to do?" Kiba hissed at her, his hand curling around her wrist. "If any of the vampires find out that Naruto is Sasuke's mate..."

"We have to make sure they don't find out," she replied.

"We should stop them, get Naruto out of here, and try and figure out what's going on," Kiba said, squeezing her wrist for emphasis.

"You can't separate mates," Sakura replied, horrified, pulling out of his grasp and turning to face him, tearing her eyes off of Naruto and Sasuke as she did so. "Even if we try, Naruto will be right back here. And what if Sasuke follows us? A vampire on werewolf land? At least let them mate. We can sort out what the hell we do afterwards."

Kiba stared at her for a long moment, his mouth working as if he was trying to come up with a retort that would satisfy her. Finally, he threw his hands up in surrender. "Fine, we'll do it your way." He muttered something under his breath about Sakura always being right. Despite the situation, she couldn't help the grin that tugged at her lips; she loved her mate. Kiba returned the smile with a rueful shake of his head.

Sakura glanced back towards Naruto and Sasuke, hoping that they weren't consummating their mating in the middle of the room. Not that it was totally unusual at a vampire party, but Naruto would be mortified at the idea of people seeing him making love to his mate for the first time. They weren't by the pillar any more. In fact, as she scoured the room, she realised that they were no where to be seen.

"Crap," she hissed.

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Naruto grasped his mate's wrist once he finally reached his side, a delicious shiver going through him at the feeling of his mate's flesh. He leaned over to whisper in his ear: "We need to go somewhere private, _now_"

His mate stared at him for a moment, before nodding. Naruto followed him as he led them out of the large room through a side door. His mate obviously knew his way around; he didn't hesitate as he led Naruto down a long corridor, then up several flights of stairs.

Naruto was normally a nosy person. He loved being in someone else's house, looking at their décor and furniture. Under any normal circumstances a stately manor like the Uchiha house would have him literally drooling. But as he followed his mate, he could honestly say that he did not notice one thing about the interior of the house. All his attention was riveted on the slim back, the pert bottom, the soft hair that he longed to stroke.

At some point their fingers had linked, the warmth of their palms pressed together echoing the longing Naruto felt to be pressed, naked, against his mate's body.

Sasuke remained silent as he led the blond man to his room. On a party night there were normally plenty of rooms allocated specially for sex and feeding, but Sasuke hadn't even considered using any of them. He wasn't normally concerned about who saw him having sex; he actually quite enjoyed being watched, but with this man he felt that whatever happened between them needed to be private.

He pulled the man into his bedroom. It was the one place where he very rarely fed, and certainly never with a complete stranger. It felt right, though, as he quickly locked the door, and turned to face the man who seemed to have completely taken him over. He barely had time to gasp before his back hit the door, and his mouth was engulfed in a kiss that set a fire deep down inside him. Sasuke grasped onto the man, opening his mouth and returning the kiss in a frenzy.

Sasuke never kissed, preferring to leave his mouth free for biting, but if it felt like this every time, he would gladly eschew biting for kissing. It was deep, and needy; passionate and...loving. Even with the way his body was pinned against the blond's, the way the other man was almost trying to consume him, there was something tender about the kiss, something that Sasuke was in no mood to analyse. Vampires could and did find love; his own parents were blood bonded lovers. But Sasuke had never desired a lover, he cared for his friends and family, but sex was for fun and feeding, nothing deeper than that. _So what was he doing here, making out with some stranger?_ Sasuke ignored the thought, instead thrusting his tongue deeper into the other man's mouth.

Naruto ran his fingers through his mate's hair, groaning at the softness. The body pressed against his own was slender, but hard with hidden muscle. He loved the way his mate held onto him, the way he plundered his mouth with his tongue. The scent was all around him now, and driving him halfway out of his mind. He needed to feel skin; they were both wearing far, far too much clothing. He reached with shaking hands, intending to undo the buttons on his mate's shirt. Instead he found himself ripping it open, placing his hands against the surprisingly cool flesh. He pulled away from his mate's lips to taste his skin, kissing a trail down his chest.

Sasuke moaned as the other man explored his body with his mouth; kissing, nipping and licking. He was not used to this, and the pleasure that coursed through him was surprising in its intensity. He tangled his fingers in the thick blond hair, losing himself to the moment; it was completely insane and he didn't care, couldn't care. Not when it felt this good.

The lips were trailing up his neck now; vampires didn't bite each other, not unless they were bonded, so normally his neck was off limits, even to humans. He was pretty sure the man mauling him wasn't a vampire, but even so, he was acting crazy. He needed to fuck, right now. His cock was so hard it hurt, and the kissing was driving him clear out of his mind.

Sasuke pushed the man away from him, immediately feeling bereft at the lack of contact. He shook his head, and stripped off the rest of his clothing. He could analyse his own bizarre behaviour after he got laid.

"I need you, now." He snarled at the other man, pushing him towards the bed, tugging at his clothing. He caught a glimpse of golden eyebrows rising, an amused glint in the blue eyes, and suddenly found himself spun around and thrown onto the bed.

Sasuke's eyes widened, watching as the man methodically stripped off the rest of his clothing. Sasuke's breath caught at the body exposed; hard muscle and sun kissed skin. Definitely not a vampire. For a moment their eyes locked, and Sasuke felt something deep inside himself melt. Before he could analyse the feeling his skin rippled as if he were going to shift into his panther form. He let out a gasp; that never happened unless he specifically willed it. He was falling apart, and he should have been freaked out. He let out a gasp, and pushed the shift away; there was no way he was getting fucked if he was a panther, and he really, really needed this man.

Naruto bit back a curse as his wolf struggled to get to the surface, as intent on claiming his mate as Naruto was. While some werewolves had sex in wolf form, Naruto wasn't sure if the man lying naked and wanton on the bed was a werewolf. Plus, he found the idea kind of weird. He didn't want wild animal fucking, he wanted to make love. Even with the need and the passion swirling in his gut, howling at him to claim his mate _now, dammit_ he wanted it to be tender. He was going to spend the rest of his life with this man, and he wanted this to be special. For werewolves, the first mating was akin to a wedding night.

Even though he was trying to restrain himself from mauling the man, Naruto couldn't help pouncing on his mate, and locking their lips in another searing kiss. He moaned at the feeling of their bodies pressed tight together.

"Lube?" He managed to get out between kisses.

"No time. Please. Now!" His mate replied, gasping the words out as he writhed under Naruto.

Naruto shook his head, and making a guess began rummaging in drawers with one hand, while the other explored the lean lines of his mate's body. He continued to kiss the man's throat, face and lips, fumbling blindly in the draw, and hoping that his mate didn't keep anything strange that could be mistaken for lube in there.

With a hiss of frustration, Sasuke arched his back, pressing against the heavy, leaking cock of the man on top of him. He really wanted that cock, he had decided. He wanted to taste it, to feel it sliding inside him. It was a very nice size, long and thick, and the very tiny part of his mind that was still able to think rationally saw that lube would be a good thing. The larger, irrational part that needed to fuck now reminded him that pain went very well with pleasure, and he had taken bigger. _Though not by much_, his unruly mind purred.

Letting out a soft growl, Sasuke pushed the man off of him enough so he could dive into the drawer and fish out the large tube that was apparently eluding him. He waved it in front of the blue eyes, and was surprised when they crinkled with laughter. He was kissed again, deeply and possessively, and his fingers found their way into the thick blond hair again. He groaned as he felt wetness at his entrance, and arched his back as a slick finger entered him. He was not going to last, no way, not when the man's finger curled, and began pressing against his prostate. Another thick finger entered him, and began scissoring, hurriedly. That, coupled with the harsh breathing against his neck, suggested that he wasn't the only one about to go out of his mind with need.

"I'm sorry," the man gasped out, "I should take more time, but I really need you, now."

Sasuke just arched his back, pressing his aching cock against the rock hard abdomen, letting out a low moan as the fingers were dragged out of him. He trembled with desire as something hotter, harder, larger, was pressed against his needy hole. He felt hands on his cheeks, and his head was tipped upwards, so he was staring into the man's deep blue eyes. He gasped, his heart clenched, and slowly the other man's...his lover's, cock sunk into him. He was claimed in every possible way. For a long moment they remained like that, joined intimately, staring into each other's eyes. The only sound in the room was their ragged breathing, and the sound of two hearts, pounding completely in sync with each other.

Sasuke slowly raised his hand, and placed it on his lover's cheek. They both moved at the same time, their lips meeting in a searing kiss. Sasuke had never felt this way before, like he was melting, becoming one with the man kissing him. He wrapped his arms around the other man's back, digging his fingers into the firm muscle. He hooked one leg around his hips, desperate to get closer. He had never wanted anything as much as he wanted this man. And it had nothing to do with feeding, not any more. He could feel the sexual energy washing off of his lover, but he had no desire to link up to it and feed. Normally not feeding took focus, but now Sasuke thought that he would have to make an effort to feed; something bigger had interrupted his vampire instincts.

They started moving as one, slowly, kissing and caressing. Every thrust brushed against Sasuke's prostate, and he felt like the pleasure was going to destroy him. The burning need was still there, but controlled; Sasuke had never fucked like this before. He wasn't even sure if it could be called fucking any more. Not with the way the man was looking at him. It was intense, the way that the physical pleasure mixed with the way the look in those blue eyes tugged at his heart.

Naruto stared down into midnight eyes as he held back his need to pound his mate into the mattress. There would be time for that later. For now, he just wanted to drown in the feelings. His mate's eyes slid shut and his back arched. His mouth opened, his tongue curling sensuously as he let out a cry that seemed to be drawn from the depths of his soul. No doubt about it, Naruto thought, his mate's come face was the sexiest thing ever. And that was it as far as control went; not when the heat constricting around him tightened with the ferocity of his mate's orgasm.

Naruto grabbed his mate's thighs for leverage and picked up his pace, thrusting into him as deep as he could go. It didn't take him long, not with his mate arching eagerly to meet each thrust. With a groan, Naruto emptied his seed deep inside his mate, feeling like half of his soul followed it.

He collapsed, breathing hard, on top of his mate, belatedly realising that he didn't even know his name. It was strange. He didn't know who he was, had only just met him, but he loved him; needed him. Instead of rolling off the smaller man, he wrapped his arms around him, and gripped him tightly to his chest. He was suddenly feeling very possessive, even though there was no one in the room with them.

Sasuke was having trouble breathing, and it wasn't just due to the large man laying on top of him. The wealth of emotion that he was feeling for this man whom he had just met was practically choking him. More, not all of it was his. He could feel what the other man was feeling, as if they were connected. It was something that sometimes happened when he fed; he would connect with his prey. But he hadn't fed off the blond, not even a little bit, and the connection had only ever lasted during the feeding, not after. He was conflicted. Part of him wanted to push the man away, lock himself in his room, and try to figure out what the hell had happened. Another part just wanted to stay there, locked in the man's embrace.

While he was trying to figure out which impulse he was going to follow, the man on top of him shifted enough to look into his eyes. Sasuke's breath caught. He had only ever seen that shade of blue in paintings and photographs; it was the colour of the sky on a summer's day, and he was hooked. The emotion in those eyes threatened to drown him, but he found that he couldn't look away.

"So. I think we need to talk," the man said.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "You think?" He replied scathingly. "What the hell have you done to me?"

The blue eyes turned puzzled. "You don't know?"

"Obviously I don't know, that's why I asked."

"We're mates."

Sasuke stared for a long moment, completely lost for words. "Mates?" He asked finally, "that's...that's impossible. You're a wolf?"

The man nodded slowly. _I've just fucked a werewolf, _Sasuke thought to himself, _and it was the best sex ever. Father will kill me if he finds out._

"You're not a wolf." It was a statement rather than a question.

Sasuke snorted. "You should be able to smell that," he said. But then, he should have been able to smell that the man was a werewolf. The only thing that came to mind when he sniffed at him, though, was _mine._

"Are you human?" The question was asked tentatively, as if the man knew the answer.

Sasuke opened his mouth and let his fangs drop before replying: "vampire."

"Shit," the other man groaned, burying his head in Sasuke's shoulder. They were still naked, covered in sweat and come, and clinging tightly to each other. The whole evening had quickly taken a turn for the surreal.

"So, we can't be mates," Sasuke said into the man's golden hair. "Vampires don't mate for life. We're not even monogamous when we're in committed relationships."

The werewolf in his arms growled against his shoulder.

"Plus," Sasuke continued, wishing that he didn't feel like he was trying to convince himself, "werewolves only mate with other werewolves."

"Not always; there have been some who have mated with humans. Hashirama's mate was a human woman."

"Well, I was born a vampire. And, I thought the whole mate thing was strictly heterosexual."

The werewolf raised his head. "I don't care," he said flatly. "You're mine and I'm yours." He propped himself up so his hand was resting on Sasuke's chest, above his heart. "You felt it, can still feel it. We're connected."

Sasuke shook his head, even as he felt the truth of the words. "Maybe, but how can you tell it's a mating bond? It could be something else."

the werewolf smiled and shook his head. Sasuke felt a sudden urge to cut his own heart out and hand it to the man if he would just keep on looking at him like that.

"I've been searching for this my whole life, I know what it is," the wolf said, leaning in and placing a tender kiss against Sasuke's lips.

Sasuke lacked any will or desire to avoid the kiss. Instead he melted into it, digging his fingers into the broad back of his lover. Shit, he was already thinking of him as his lover. How long until lover was replaced with mate?

Eventually they broke apart, gasping for breath.

"Say it's true," Sasuke said, "that you and I are...are mates."

"It is true."

"But, so what? Are your wolves going to let us be together? I know my people won't." While a lot of the younger vampires only paid lip service to the feud, the older ones held their grudges close. And all of them deferred to Fugaku Uchiha.

"I don't care," the werewolf said fiercely. "I'm keeping you, no matter what anyone says or does. We belong together."

Sasuke drew in a shaky breath at the intensity of his voice. "I don't even know your name," he said.

"It's Naruto."

"I'm Sasuke."

"Hi," Naruto said, before leaning in and kissing him again. "It's a pleasure to meet you," he murmured against Sasuke's lips.

Despite everything, Sasuke let out a snort of laughter. "Idiot," he muttered, before opening his mouth against Naruto's, kissing him deeply. He wanted to keep Naruto, too, he realised. With a sinking feeling, he knew that it was true, despite how impossible it was, that Naruto was his mate.

He placed his palms against Naruto's cheeks, and slowly raised his head, looking into his mesmerising eyes. "There's more," he said. "My full name is Sasuke Uchiha."

Naruto's eyes widened. "Fuck," he breathed.

"So, I don't think that anyone is being kept, because my father will never allow us to be together. He hates all werewolves; it's not rational. If he knew you were here now, in my bed, he would want to kill you."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "I don't care; nothing will keep me from you. Anyway, my mother's the same. And if I had to choose between her and you, I would choose you."

"Who is your mother?" Sasuke asked.

"Kushina Uzumaki."

"Shit, we are so beyond fucked."

"I don't care." Naruto replied. "I can't believe you're even thinking of letting the prejudice of others get in the way of us. We will find a way."

"Even if we run away together, you're mother will hunt us down and add my fangs to her trophy collection."

"No. I won't let her."

Sasuke sighed, and tightened his grip on Naruto. For all of his negativity, he didn't want to let go. No. It wasn't that he didn't want to, he couldn't. The whole situation was insane and fucked up, and he should really kick Naruto out of his room before some one found them, but he couldn't let him go. And the thought of anyone actually harming Naruto had his blood boiling in rage.

Before Sasuke could say anything else, the bedroom door crashed open, hitting the wall with enough force to crack the plaster. Sasuke and Naruto leaped to their feet, and there was a brief, ridiculous moment when they both tried to put themselves between the potential danger and their mate.

Naruto relaxed first, recognising their intruders. Sasuke glanced at the unfamiliar pair; unlike with Naruto, he immediately smelled the wolf on them. The pink haired woman flushed bright red, and spun around, slamming the door shut. The man next to her looked around the room, pointedly avoiding looking at the two naked men standing by the bed.

Naruto grabbed Sasuke's arm. "They're my friends," he said.

"Naruto, we need to go now," The woman said, keeping her back to them. "Get dressed."

"Sakura, he's my-"

"I know!" She snapped. "We need to figure out what we're going to do about it, and we will. But right now, we need to go before someone finds us here."

Sasuke knew she was speaking sense, but the thought of Naruto leaving, even if he was only going to the other side of the river, made his heart ache. "She's right," he forced himself to say. "You need to go now."

Naruto shook his head. "Not without you," he insisted.

Sasuke couldn't help the smile that twitched at the corners of his mouth. The stubbornness should piss him off, but he couldn't help but find it endearing. "Tomorrow night," he said, "Meet me by the big oak on the hill. You know the place?"

Naruto nodded. "I don't want to leave you here."

"I know, but I can't come with you. The other wolves would smell me."

A wealth of emotions flew across Naruto's face, too quick for Sasuke to read. But that didn't matter, because he could feel them; the worry, the fear, the love. Finally, with a snarl, Naruto grabbed Sasuke, and pulled him into a deep kiss. Sasuke moaned, opening his mouth and burying his tongue deep in Naruto's mouth. He was completely lost to this man, and the scariest part was how totally unscary it was.

"I hate this," Naruto said softly, pressing their foreheads together and staring deep into Sasuke's eyes. "I don't want to be apart from you."

"I don't want to be apart, either." Sasuke replied.

With a very reluctant sigh, Naruto pulled away from him, and began pulling on his clothing. Sasuke watched mutely, keeping his face carefully expressionless. Inside he was screaming at the forced parting, even though he knew that it was only temporary.

"Hurry," Sakura hissed.

Naruto scowled at her, before taking Sasuke in his arms and giving him one last, lingering kiss. "Tomorrow," he breathed.

Then they were gone.

Sasuke dropped onto his bed, feeling drained. He could still feel Naruto. He was pretty sure that if he was not moving, he would be able to track him. It was oddly comforting. Even if Naruto wasn't physically there, he still knew where he was. Although he had a feeling that if he went for too long without Naruto's actual presence, he would slowly go out of his mind. He wracked his brains, trying to remember everything he could about werewolf mates. He knew that if you killed a mated werewolf, it's mate would go crazy; mad with grief. That was something that his ancestors had first hand experience of. Sasuke had always thought that it was down to werewolves having a large melodramatic streak. After feeling the bond with Naruto, though, he realised that mates for life meant exactly that.

It was chilling to think of his life being tied to another that way. Sasuke twisted until he was under the covers. The bed smelled of Naruto, and it was comforting. He knew he should shower; he probably stunk of werewolf, and the drying come on his body was gross, but a part of him sort of liked having Naruto's scent on him. Sasuke drifted off to sleep, dreaming of blue eyes and sunshine.


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: Big hugs and thanks to .fish, Yuu Kawada, missbip0lar, lexibaby214, Bookoholic, ToXicStArCaNdy, KitsuneLuvr88, bridmatt and MidnightFox for their reviews of Chapter Two. Reviews are like food for writers, so thank you all for sustaining me :). Regarding the question about character death, and without wanting to spoil anything...things will get a bit bloody, but I'm not planning on a Romeo and Juliet ending; the play was my springboard, I'm kind of just flying with this story, now.**

**I also want to thank everyone who has Favorited this fic, I'm glad that you like it.**

**Here's Chapter Three; please let me know what you think ^^**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, and I make no money from this fanfiction**

Chapter Three

Sakura buried her head in her hands and let out a low groan. Naruto paused in his pacing to shoot her an evil look. They had been at the pack library since it opened at 8:30 that morning, and it was now approaching two. Kiba had been sent out for coffee and snacks, and was taking his time coming back. Naruto was pretty sure that he was being slow on purpose.

"This is impossible," Sakura sighed, slamming the book in front of her closed. She glared at Naruto. "You know, it wouldn't hurt you to help," she said.

Naruto continued his pacing, feeling like he was slowly going out of his mind. The library had been Sakura's idea, anyway. She had insisted that there would be something in the archives that would help him with his current situation. Naruto snorted and fought the urge to kick something. He didn't care that Sasuke was a vampire; he was his mate, and that was all that was important to Naruto. If people didn't like it that was their problem, not his.

Sasuke was sleeping right now, Naruto could feel it through the mate bond, and he longed to be sleeping next to him. He had barely had any sleep the night before; they didn't arrive home until late, and the remainder of the night had been spent pining for his mate. All of his instincts were screaming for him to be beside Sasuke. He needed to claim him, and hold him; it didn't help that mates were basically in heat for each other for the first few months after their initial consummation. All of this had made him very grumpy and uncomfortable when Sakura woke him up first thing with her library plan. She had a theory, which Naruto hadn't really paid much attention to due to his lack of sleep and lack of mate. Something about finding a precedent.

"Naruto," Sakura continued. "I'm doing this for you, you know."

Naruto paused in his pacing and turned to face her. "Look, I know you're only trying to help," he said, "but you have no idea how hard it is for me to be here, knowing where he is, and not able to go to him."

"I do know, you moron," she snapped. "I was kept apart from Kiba for almost a year. You've not even been apart from Sasuke a day yet. Plus, you've consummated your mating."

"That just makes it worse; you know that once the mating is consummated the bond deepens."

"Which is why I'm trying to help you!"

They glared at each other, both totally frustrated by their lack of progress. Sakura looked like she was thinking about hurling a book at Naruto's head.

It was at that point that Kiba finally reappeared. Sakura turned her glare onto him, secretly slightly jealous that she hadn't thought to use going out for coffee as an excuse to escape for a bit. "Where did you go to buy that, Paris?" She snapped.

Kiba put a coffee down in front of her. "You're welcome," he said, slumping into the seat opposite her.

Sakura took a sip of the coffee; it was still hot, so Kiba had done all his procrastinating before he brought it. She delved into the fast food bag he had brought, pulling out a burger and taking a bite.

Naruto rolled his eyes. He wasn't hungry; his mind was full of Sasuke. If his mating had been anything approaching normal, once he had announced that he had found his mate to his pack they would have been given a full week to themselves. No work or any other commitments would come between them; food would be delivered by friends. On the last night of this honeymoon, they would shift and run together under the moonlight, and when they returned to the tribe there would be a feast in their honour, and a party that sometimes went on for days. They would exchange wedding vows and rings, and then sort out a legally recognised ceremony, where they would do it all over again.

However, his mate was a vampire. They would not be able to run together as wolves, they wouldn't even be able to be together in the sunlight. Naruto didn't care about that, but he knew that life wouldn't be easy for them, even if they somehow managed to keep their families from murdering each other.

The feeding bothered him; he hated the idea of Sasuke getting close enough to anyone to bite them, never mind feeding through sex. He wondered if he was strong enough to be Sasuke's sole source of food, or if Sasuke would even agree to that. If Sasuke was a wolf, there was no way that he would be able to tolerate any one but Naruto touching him now they were mated, but he was a vampire; maybe he wouldn't equate the sex he had for feeding with the sex he had with Naruto. There was so little he really knew about his mate, and instead of using this time to get to know each other as most mated pairs did, he was in a stupid library, full of mouldy books.

Naruto gave into his frustration, and kicked the table. The coffee cups jiggled, and Kiba and Sakura dived to rescue the books from any potential coffee damage.

"What the hell, Naruto? Chill out!" Kiba snapped.

"Chill out?" Naruto snarled at his friend. "How am I supposed to chill out when my mate is over the other side of town, and I'm stuck here?"

"Because we're trying to sort that out for you! Prick." Kiba grabbed a napkin, and began mopping the table.

"Where did this book come from?" Sakura asked, her voice sounding slightly shaky.

Naruto glanced at the book in her hands. It looked old; a lot of the books were older than you would find in a regular library, but this one made them look brand new. It was the sort of book that was normally only ever held in the gloved hands of the curator of some museum, who turned the pages carefully with a pair of tweezers. Sakura must have had the same impression, because she was holding it as if she was afraid it would crumble to dust.

The cover was blackened with age, and the title looked handwritten. "Is that in Japanese?" Naruto asked.

Sakura nodded. "I think so. But really old Japanese."

Kiba glanced up from his mopping. "Oh, I found that one," he said. "You said to get anything that might be related to vampires, and since that said Madara on the cover I thought-"

"Wait; you can read that?" Sakura exclaimed.

Kiba shrugged, launching the soggy napkin at the bin and missing. "Just the Madara part. Remember when we had that assignment in school about historical figures, and we did a collage thing? I had to write Madara in Japanese, and it took me forever to get it right, so I remember it."

"We need to find out what's in this book," Sakura said.

"Why?" Naruto asked, quickly loosing interest. It was old, and that was cool, but why did they need to read it? Their ancestors had been Japanese, but none of them could read, or even speak the language apart from Kiba, and he only knew one word.

"Because," Sakura said in a tone normally reserved for the very stupid, "I think it may have been written by Madara; it may have the reason for the feud in it. We thought that all documentation of that time was destroyed, but this somehow survived. And if we can find what started the feud we can end it, meaning that you and Sasuke get to be together without starting an interspecies war"

"Great, so all we need to do is learn ancient Japanese, and hope that you're right. For all you know, that could be Madara's cook book!"

Kiba sniggered. "Recipe number one; Take one human."

Sakura and Naruto ignored him.

"You ungrateful arse," Sakura snapped. "I'm trying to help you, so please hold off on the sarcasm. Besides, it's better than your plan of pine away and be a colossal pain in my backside. I get that this is hard for you; it's a shitty situation and you have my sympathy, but that is no excuse to take it out on me and Kiba, who are the only ones currently on your side. I'll read the goddamn book, so don't worry about having to take some time out of mooning over Sasuke to learn a new language."

She clutched the book to her chest, and stormed out of the library.

"And that is why I always agree with her," Kiba said collecting up the last of his lunch before following his mate.

Naruto sank into his friend's vacated seat with a sigh. She was right, he was being an arse, but he couldn't help it. When he met Sasuke, it was like he was suddenly seeing in colour. Like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, he had stepped out of a black and white farmhouse into a colourful world full of little people singing. And now he was apart from Sasuke everything was monochrome again. Except, now he knew what life was like in colour, and he truly saw how dull the world he had once enjoyed really was.

He glanced at his watch, and tried to calculate the hours of sunlight remaining. He decided to go to the meeting place and wait for Sasuke. Hopefully he wouldn't go out of his mind before his mate arrived.

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Even though his room had no windows, Sasuke knew that the sun was still up when he awoke. It was a handy vampire trait that stopped them from being fried, since vampires pre-dated the invention of clocks. While he could be awake and even productive in daylight hours, direct sunlight was still a big problem; the house was made by vampires for vampires, and so had a distinct lack of windows, which made being up and about in daylight hours a bit less perilous. While exposure to sunlight wouldn't kill a vampire, it would hurt like hell.

So Sasuke could get up and do stuff if he wanted to. He just didn't; he felt like wallowing in his bed for the rest of his life. He felt ravaged in body mind and soul. He could still feel Naruto, enough to know that the separation was paining him too, and he ached to go to him. Sasuke couldn't understand why werewolves longed to find their mates; it was a horrible feeling to need one person that much. He was hungry, but the very thought of moving to find someone to eat just seemed like too much effort.

A knock on the door had him struggling upright. "Who is it?" He called out, trying to remember if the door was locked. In answer, the door swung open to reveal Karin, and Sasuke remembered that Naruto's friends had busted his door the night before.

Karin's eyes widened at the sight of Sasuke lying naked in a well used bed. "Well, I didn't realise that you ate in bed," she said with a snicker. She pushed the door shut behind her and sat down on his bed. The laughter in her eyes vanished as she got close enough to smell the wolf on Sasuke.

"Shit," she breathed, "a werewolf in your father's house? How brave are you?"

Sasuke flopped onto his back with a groan. "Not just any werewolf," he said. "He's my mate."

Karin's eyebrows threatened to shoot off the top of her head. "Your what? Sasuke, you're a vampire, you can't be a wolf's mate."

"I know!" He snapped. "It's insane, impossible, yet it is. I can feel him."

Karin shook her head. "Maybe it's just that he's different. You've never been with a wolf before-"

"No. I'm his mate."

"How can you be so sure?"

"I just am. It's like...I need him, the way I need blood. I barely know him but I think...I think I'm in love with him." The final confession was given in a whisper.

Karin was more than surprised. She had known Sasuke for years; he had been a child when she was turned into a vampire, but they became close once she realised that he also had an animal form. She had guided him through the change, and was one of the few people that Sasuke acknowledged as a friend. And in all those years, she had seen Sasuke sleep with countless men and women, including herself on more than one occasion. All of those partners, every one, had been for food or fun. Sasuke had never shown even the slightest hint of infatuation; love was not for him. So to hear him say that he loved someone was shocking.

"Still, everyone falls in love sometime in their lives; maybe you're surprised at the intensity of something you've never felt before, and you think that that makes you mates." But Karin didn't believe that, even as she forced the words out. She scarcely dared to hope; that if Sasuke was mated to a wolf, maybe there was still a chance for her.

"No, this is more than just falling in love. I need to be with him, but I can't see how I can. Can you imagine what my father will do if he finds out?"

"We won't let him find out," Karin said. "So you need to shower the scent of wolf off of you. Are you going to find your mate when the sun goes down?"

Sasuke nodded. "We're meeting up," he said.

"Ok. We pretend we're going for a run in the grounds. The only one who will be able to keep up with us is Nagato, and if he gets sent to follow us I'll distract him while you scale the wall. You know, if he doesn't follow us, I'm coming with you." She smirked. "I want to meet the man who has ensnared your heart."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, before climbing out of bed and stalking towards the shower.

"By the way," Karin called just as he was about to close the bathroom door, "what's the name of your wolf?"

"Naruto." Sasuke replied. "Naruto Uzumaki."

He shut the door, and so didn't see how pale his friend turned.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Sasuke was lucky; no one noticed the two black panthers stalking through the grounds of the Uchiha mansion at dusk. Just to make sure, he and Karin ran a circuitous route, crossing their own path several times to stop any trackers. There was a spot in the wall where the masonry was weak, and it was easy to dig your claws into. It was Sasuke's regular escape route, and so far no one had realised that this was where he was getting out.

The Uchiha house was on the very edge of town, so they climbed over the wall and into a field. The tree where he was meeting Naruto was on the other side of the river, but was only a short distance for two panthers running at full speed. Which is what Sasuke was at as soon as he cleared the wall. Naruto was waiting for him, and he yearned to be beside his mate; for some reason, in his panther form the pull was even stronger.

Karin let out a startled growl, before picking up her speed. Sasuke almost begrudged her presence, wanting to be alone with his mate, but he knew that she would be able to keep a better lookout than he or Naruto would once they were together.

It was normally a twenty minute run to the tree; Sasuke made it in fifteen. The tree itself was on the top of a small mound; it was speculated that it was a man made burial mound, but no one had bothered to dig it up to find out. Whatever was under there was all tangled in the roots of the oak tree.

Standing on the crest of the small mound, under the tree's canopy, was Naruto. He had been pacing but he paused, staring at the spot where Sasuke stood. Sasuke remained frozen for a moment, giving Karin a chance to catch up with him, captivated by the sight of his mate. Moonlight glinted off Naruto's golden hair, turning it silver. For some reason, even shadowed by the tree, the blue of his eyes stood out, as if a little bit of the daylight resided inside them.

Sasuke ran, charging towards his mate, the need that had had him in its grasp all day finally boiling over. Naruto's eyes widened as he saw the panther charging towards him. He knew that it was Sasuke; he hadn't realised that his vampire mate was also a shape shifter. It explained a lot, but it was a surprise. He braced himself as Sasuke launched at him, allowing the giant cat to land on him and pin him to the ground. He tangled his hands in Sasuke's fur as Sasuke licked him with his rough tongue, a rumbling purr vibrating through his body.

"I missed you," Naruto murmured into Sasuke's ear.

He felt Sasuke's body tremble; he watched in awe as Sasuke changed, fur receding; paws stretching into hands. For some reason, his normal squeamishness was absent. Possibly it had something to do with his very naked mate lying on top of him. He grabbed Sasuke's head, and pulled him down into a hungry kiss. He felt more than heard Sasuke's moan as he opened his mouth, his tongue tangling with Naruto's. In that moment, all the tension flowed out of Naruto, replaced by the rightness of feeling Sasuke in his arms. He ran his hands down his mate's back, cupping his buttocks and pulling him closer. He had been erect the moment he had scented Sasuke approaching, the physical reaction to his mate still as strong as it had been the night before, no doubt intensified by the forced separation. Sasuke was hard as well, and the feeling of their cocks pressed together had Naruto groaning.

He fumbled between them, still desperately kissing Sasuke, somehow managing to get his fly undone, and his cock free. He pressed his length against Sasuke's, grinding down. They were both slick with pre-come, Sasuke's cock hot and hard against his own. Naruto groaned, one hand on Sasuke's arse, the other tangling in his hair. Sasuke was writhing on top of him, as if he was trying to crawl into Naruto's skin. Naruto wished he could. He tightened his grip on Sasuke's arse, digging his nails in. Their kiss became frenzied as they rubbed against each other; Naruto wanted to flip them, and sink deep into Sasuke, but that would mean stopping, and there was no way that he was stopping; it felt far too good. He shifted his hand enough to slip one finger into Sasuke's tight hole, and was gratified as Sasuke arched with a cry, breaking their kiss. Naruto felt the heat of Sasuke's seed against his cock, and it was enough to tip him over the edge. He came with a deep groan.

For a moment they lay panting together. Sasuke buried his head in his lover's shoulder, trying to get his racing thoughts back together. Again, he had not fed off of Naruto; he wondered if he was even able to. It was doubly strange as he had not fed for several days, and he was beginning to feel hungry.

"Wow, free porn. Thanks, guys."

Naruto sat upright, clutching Sasuke to his chest at the sound of the sardonic female voice. Sasuke suppressed a groan. He had forgotten about Karin.

"Who the hell are you?" Naruto snarled, all of his protective instincts kicking in. Although logically he knew that as a vampire Sasuke could take care of himself, his werewolf instincts didn't respond to logic.

Sasuke managed to turn around in Naruto's tight grip to see Karin approaching, naked and unashamed. She sat down next to them and leered.

"She's my friend," Sasuke said. "She helped me get out."

Naruto eyed Karin warily, keeping a tight hold on Sasuke. "You watched us." He said flatly.

"Of course," she replied, running her fingers through her red hair. "I mean, who wouldn't? You're both gorgeous, and together..." She trailed off, and a dreamy look came into her eyes.

Naruto made a sound of disgust. "Pervert," he muttered.

Sasuke scowled, and tried to wriggle out of his mates grasp. Most vampires had a voyeuristic streak and enjoyed being watched or watching, himself included.

"You're holding a naked man with your dick hanging out of your jeans and I'm the pervert?" Karin said with a snicker.

Naruto flushed, and was flustered enough to loosen his hold on Sasuke enough to let him wriggle free. Sasuke stood up and glared down at his lover. Belatedly, Naruto realised that something was bugging him.

"What?" He asked.

"You think that watching people have sex is perverse?" Sasuke snapped.

"You don't?" Naruto asked incredulously. Sasuke's scowl deepened. "Oh, you really don't." Naruto tucked his dick back in his jeans and zipped them back up as a way of buying some time. He had forgotten that as a vampire, Sasuke saw the world very differently to him.

"Look," Naruto said, "to me, sex is about intimacy between two people. It's special, and not to be shared with anyone outside. And between mates, it's even more special. I don't want anyone to see you like that except me."

Sasuke sat down next to him with a sigh. "Before you, it was all about getting off and feeding," he said. "I agree, it's different with you; I don't want people seeing you, I couldn't share you with anyone. But if it's me people are watching..." he trailed off as Naruto's expression darkened.

"No one sees you like that except for me," he said flatly.

"Yes, that's very werewolf," Karin drawled, "but Sasuke's a vampire. How do you expect him to feed? We may not die from lack of food, but it weakens us; do you want a comatose mate because you won't let him feed?"

"He can feed off of me,"Naruto growled.

"Actually, I can't," Sasuke confessed. "When I'm with you, it's like all of my feeding instincts are suppressed; all I can think of is being with you."

"Weird," Karin commented. "When did you last eat anything?"

Sasuke frowned, trying to think. Naruto looked like he wanted to put his fingers in his ears and sing to drown out Sasuke's response.

"I can't remember," Sasuke said. "A few days ago, I think."

Karin rolled her eyes. "Sasuke, remember that whole turning into a panther is draining speech? If you want to use that form, you need to feed regularly. You can feed off me if you want; you don't even have to go for penetrative or anything, just go down on me." She spread her legs in invitation.

"No," Naruto snapped, averting his gaze and wrapping an arm around Sasuke.

"Sasuke has to feed," Karin replied, adjusting herself to a more modest position when it became clear that Sasuke wasn't going to take her up on her offer, "and he can't do it from you."

"No, Naruto's right," Sasuke said with a sigh. He could feel the rage emanating from his mate at the thought of Sasuke having any sexual contact with anyone else. Sasuke could understand it; he couldn't stand the thought of Naruto touching anyone but him. The response was visceral, and did not respond to any logic. He would have to either go blood only, or make sure that Naruto never, ever knew how he was feeding.

Karin made a sound of disgust. "He's not right. I know it's hard-wired into a werewolf to want their mate all for themselves; it's super romantic, and the whole possessive alpha male thing is totally hot, but Sasuke, you're not a werewolf. It's going to be different for you. There's no way you can go blood only; one fuck will keep you going for a few days, with blood you would need to drain four people for the same effect, and there aren't that many willing donors around. Plus, you could accidentally kill someone. And vampire related deaths are a pain in the arse to cover up."

"Because that's why you don't kill people, the inconvenience of it,"Naruto snapped in disgust. "We'll sort something out. For now, Sasuke can have my blood." He tipped his head, exposing his throat.

Both Sasuke and Karin stared, shocked at the sight of a werewolf willingly baring his neck for a vampire. Sasuke moved forward slowly, savouring the moment. He suddenly had a deep desire to taste his mate; his fangs ached with the need. He felt them lengthen, and knew that his eyes had changed to red. Naruto was watching him, anticipation glowing in his eyes. He was clearly getting off on the thought of Sasuke sinking his teeth into him. _And we're the perverts?_ Sasuke thought.

He straddled Naruto's lap, gripping Naruto by the hair and carefully moving his head to the right angle. He placed a few soft kisses to Naruto's throat, feeling his pulse against his lips. Naruto's arms slipped around his back, loose enough that Sasuke could move if he wanted, Naruto's fingers lightly caressing up and down Sasuke's spine. For Sasuke, blood drinking had always been a necessity; it had never been this erotic before.

Sasuke opened his mouth, and set his fangs against Naruto's neck. He felt a shudder go through his lover, and his hands tighten against Sasuke's back. He could feel Naruto's cock hardening, and his lips curved in a smile. In one swift motion he sank his fangs into his mate, groaning as his blood hit his tongue. Nothing had ever tasted that good; he didn't know if it was because it was werewolf blood or because it was Naruto's, but it made human blood taste like ashes.

Naruto had thought that being bitten would hurt; the thought of Sasuke sinking his fangs into him had been strangely arousing, but still, he had expected pain. He had not been prepared for the wave of bliss that rushed over him when Sasuke's teeth had pierced his flesh. He clung onto his lover, groaning at the sensation of his blood being pulled from his body. When Sasuke finally backed away, he felt disappointed at the loss, and then a bit dizzy. He felt Sasuke place gently kisses and licks to the wound, closing it up. Naruto had heard rumours that a vampire's saliva had healing properties, and he was glad to find out they were true. Now he was not twisted up by jealousy at the thought of Sasuke touching Karin, he realised that vampire bite marks would be very hard to explain away to his pack.

Sasuke moved until he was gazing down into Naruto's eyes, still straddling Naruto's lap. His eyes were back to normal, his fangs receded. He was breathtaking. Sasuke smiled, and leaned in for a kiss. Naruto opened his mouth against Sasuke's, sure he should feel grossed out by the taste of his own blood in Sasuke's mouth. He wasn't, though. Everything about Sasuke just felt so right.

"Thank you," Sasuke purred against Naruto's mouth. "You taste delicious."

Naruto grinned. "So do you," he murmured.

"The longer you stay out here, the more likely it is that someone will notice you gone," Karin said.

Naruto scowled at her. He had briefly forgotten her presence. "Why don't you go back and make sure that no one comes looking, then," he snapped.

"I can do that. But what about tomorrow, and the day after that? Are you just going to sneak to this tree to make out every night, and then sneak back home to be miserable? Someone is going to notice."

Naruto grit his teeth. She had a point. Sasuke slumped against him with a defeated sigh.

"My friends are working on finding a way to break the feud," Naruto said.

"It's impossible." Karin replied flatly.

"Your optimism is astounding," Naruto said dryly. "Why do you think it's impossible? No one even knows why we have a grudge any more. It's just habit."

"Because, some people like the feud," Karin replied. "People have tried to build bridges, and every time they do that, something happens to deepen the bad feeling between vampires and werewolves."

Both Naruto and Sasuke turned to look at her. "What do you know?" Sasuke breathed.

Karin looked worried for a moment, then she let out a small sigh. I don't know about Sasuke's case, because he's a full blooded vampire, but there is a reason I can change into a panther. I used to be a werewolf."

"You can turn wolves into vampires?" Sasuke asked, his voice strangled. He glanced towards Naruto. "Do you think we could-"

"No. No offence, Sasuke, but I'm not becoming a vampire."

"You're right to say that. It's not a nice process. But I was turned at a time when people were thinking about maybe strengthening the treaty. I know the wolves were; I was part of a delegation sent from Japan to organise new peace talks; I'm a distant relation of Hashirama Senju, and we were sent for to try and mend things here. Only, on the way myself and Nagato were kidnapped, tortured and changed. The wolves saw this as breaking treaty. We eventually escaped and got here, but none of the wolves, not even our own cousin, would accept us. The vampires took us in."

"That's terrible," Naruto said. "I can't believe that werewolves would turn you away just because-"

"They did," Karin said flatly.

"Well, it's wrong!"

"I never knew," Sasuke said softly.

Karin shrugged. "We kept it quiet. I'm sure a lot of vampires would hate the idea of former wolves amongst them. Your father took us in, but he doesn't know what we used to be."

For a moment they all sat in silence, weighed down by the enormity of their situation. Karin was surprised at herself for confessing something she had held to herself for so long. Nagato had gone strange with the rejection of the other werewolves, and she couldn't talk to him about it any more; as far as he was concerned he was a vampire, and he hated the werewolves with as much intensity as Fugaku Uchiha did.

Sasuke snuggled back against Naruto, taking comfort in the werewolf's presence. If what Karin thought was true, they stood no chance. They would not be allowed to be together, and if they ran, the wolves and vampires would come after them, encouraged by whoever wanted them to be at odds.

Naruto felt Sasuke sigh, and felt the sudden despair that welled up inside his mate. He scowled; he didn't want Sasuke to feel like this, didn't want him to give up. So what if someone was trying to encourage the feud. He would stop them; nothing would come between Naruto and his mate. A sudden idea struck him.

"Karin, you said you came from Japan. Can you read Japanese?"

She frowned. "I can, although I haven't needed to for years. Why?"

Sasuke looked equally mystified, so Naruto explained about the book that Sakura had taken from the library.

"I can get her to bring it tomorrow, and maybe you can find something inside it," he said at the end.

"Well, I'll have a look, but remember what I said, someone doesn't want unity. And if they find out about you and Sasuke-"

"If anyone tries to take Sasuke from me or me from Sasuke I will kill them," Naruto growled. "I will find whoever is trying to keep this feud going and I will stop them."

Sasuke sat up in Naruto's lap, and looked down at him, awed by the confidence that was streaming off of him. He felt a grin forming on his face. "You best be quick, or I might get to them first," he said. "No one is going to stop me from being with you."


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: Big thanks to xxxwallflowerxxx, ToXicStArCaNdy, 0p, .fish, missbip0lar, starsmoon1981 for reviewing Chapter Three ^^ and also thank you to everyone else who has read and favourited this story :)**

** .fish lol, I had a copy and paste fail moment; I got it right this time!**

******Here's chapter Four, please let me know what you think :3**

******Oh...and I still don't own Naruto nor make any money from this fanfic**

Chapter Four

After Karin left, Naruto and Sasuke made love under the tree, taking their time and exploring each other with lips, tongues and hands. When they finally lay sated in each other's arms, the moon was waning. Sasuke could tell that there was barely an hour left until daylight became a serious problem for him. He sighed and pressed himself closer to his lover, wishing that he could meld his flesh with Naruto's.

"I need to leave soon," Sasuke said finally.

"I know," Naruto replied. "I wish we could just stay here forever."

Sasuke smiled wryly. "Yeah, I'm sure both our families would definitely miss us camped out on the outskirts of the town," he said.

"Well, I hadn't totally worked the plan out. Maybe we could build a tree house?"

"Vampires can climb trees; I think they'd still get us."

Naruto sighed and shifted until he was sitting upright, his back against the tree, pulling Sasuke up with him. "I guess we stick to the original plan, then? Meet here tomorrow night?"

"With Karin and your friends. I really hate this, you know. I have this need to be with you, and when we're apart it hurts. Like something is living inside me, and is clawing to get out. And when I'm with you, it stops. We won't get any time alone together tomorrow, and how long can we keep meeting like this until someone notices?"

"It's the same for me," Naruto said softly, brushing his hands through Sasuke's hair.

"Why do you werewolves even want to find your mates?"

"Because of how it feels when we're together. Mates aren't supposed to be separated; I didn't know that being without you would hurt the way it does."

"I hate it," Sasuke said softly.

Naruto frowned down at him. "Do you wish we had never met?" He asked slowly, suddenly terrified of Sasuke's response. It was horrible to be apart from Sasuke, but it was only temporary, and when he was with him, Naruto finally felt complete. He wouldn't give up that feeling, no matter how bad the rest was.

Sasuke took a moment before answering, wanting to be as honest as possible. "I don't know," he said finally. "This should never have happened to me; the way I need you doesn't feel right. Its so...so codependent, and maybe that's ok for werewolves, but it's not how vampires work. I don't want this bond; I don't want to need you, and miss you, and ache for you, but I do want you. Does that make sense?"

"Not in the slightest," Naruto replied, "but I think I know what you mean."

"I wish I could have met you, and got to know you and fallen in love with you without this bond between us forcing it to happen," Sasuke said.

Naruto shrugged. "I've always known that I would never love anyone apart from my mate. I guess werewolves and vampires really are different."

For a moment they were silent, holding each other tightly while remaining very aware of the gulf that separated them.

"We really know nothing about each other," Sasuke said eventually.

"My favourite colour is orange."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Orange?"

"My favourite season is spring," Naruto continued, "I love Marmite, but only on white bread. I've always wanted a cat, but my mum wouldn't let me because she's allergic to them; I adopted a stray in Canada called Twitch, but I had to leave her behind. My Birthday is 10th October, and I love old movies." He paused and looked at Sasuke expectantly.

"Umm. I don't have a favourite colour, I've never really thought about it. I guess I like winter because it's dark for longer. I don't eat food...I like cats. I am one, sometimes."

"See, now we know stuff about each other," Naruto said with a grin, pulling Sasuke into a deep, slow kiss. Sasuke melted against him with a small moan.

"You really don't eat food?" Naruto asked, breaking the kiss.

Sasuke blinked, wondering how they had gone from kissing to talking about his diet. "I'm a vampire. We feed off human energy, either from blood or sex. I can handle fluids, but not solids. Some made vampires are different, but I'm a born vampire."

"Do milkshakes count as a solid or a liquid?"

"I don't know I've never tried one."

Naruto looked horrified; "You've never tried milkshake? Why the hell not? It's like the best drink ever!"

"To me, blood is the best drink ever," Sasuke said tightly. "Besides, I'm probably lactose intolerant, most of my family are."

"Wait. You've never had dairy? What do you have in your coffee?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I take my coffee black. Can we go back to the kissing? I liked the kissing, I don't like the incessant annoying questions."

Naruto looked hurt, but Sasuke was pretty sure that the look was contrived; he was bonded to the man after all, and he didn't feel any pain, just a mess of curiosity, affection, and lust.

"I just thought that we could get to know each other better," Naruto said.

"We have an eternity to do that, since we're stuck with each other. Right now, I have to leave in thirty minutes to avoid an extreme suntan. I'm going to have to be away from you for a whole day, and the very thought of it hurts, so I want some kisses to keep me going."

"Wow. Something else I know about you; you're super romantic."

But despite his sarcasm, Naruto understood Sasuke's underlying feelings; he could feel them himself. He pulled the vampire into a searing kiss, laying back down on his back, and pulling Sasuke on top of him. Sasuke kissed him back eagerly, tangling their legs together. Naruto's cock decided to take an interest in the vampire writhing on top of him, and soon they were rutting against each other. Groaning and panting, biting and scratching. They came within seconds of each other.

Naruto held Sasuke against his chest, and glanced up at the slowly lightening sky. He was exhausted, but satiated, and longed to remain there with Sasuke forever. But the sun was slowly, inexorably rising, and he didn't want Sasuke to be harmed.

"I hate to say this, but I think you need to go," Naruto said softly into Sasuke's hair.

Sasuke slowly sat up, and pulled away from Naruto. For the first time since Sasuke had pounced on Naruto earlier that evening, they were not touching.

"I hate this," Sasuke hissed.

"Me too," Naruto replied, longing to pull his mate back into his arms. He resisted the urge, knowing that it would only make their parting harder. "I just want to take you home with me."

Sasuke's lips quirked in a bitter smile. "Since that would be as good for my health as me staying out here and sunbathing, I'm going to go. I'll see you tomorrow."

He closed his eyes, and Naruto watched as his form changed, so quickly that it was hard to follow. Sasuke regarded him for a moment in panther form, before turning and running off.

Naruto stood, watching where Sasuke had been long after he left. It was light by the time he shook himself out of his stupor and dressed before he began to slowly walk home. He would have changed into his wolf form, but he hadn't brought a bag for his clothes, and he hated carrying them in his mouth. He always felt like his jaw had been partly dislocated after doing that.

He covered a yawn with the back of his hand; he suddenly realised that since he had arrived home, he had barely slept. All he wanted to do now was sink into his bed and never get up. No; actually what he wanted to do was to curl himself tightly around Sasuke and never get up. But he needed to tell Sakura about Karin, and her offer to read the book. And he had to spend time with his dad, and find out when his mum was coming home, and speak to Tsunade. Although that could probably wait until Monday. Oh, and he should probably wash off the smell of vampire before someone noticed it. Although all his instincts insisted that he should have his mate's scent on him, logic won out in this instance. He avoided the few people who were up and walking around the town. Most of them were humans, and wouldn't be able to smell Sasuke all over him, but it didn't hurt to be too careful.

Despite his to do list, Naruto managed to make it to the bathroom before he passed out. He woke up to the sound of pounding on the bathroom door.

"Naruto! How long are you going to be in there? Sakura and Kiba are downstairs, and I really need to pee."

Naruto hurriedly switched on the shower and jumped in fully clothed. "Sorry Dad," he called out, "I just need to shower."

Werewolves didn't tend to use perfume, or any scented goods, because they were reliant on their sense of smell. Perfume covered their natural scent; besides, even the lightest of scents was often too strong for a werewolf's nose to find pleasant. After his first night with Sasuke, Naruto had invested in the strongest smelling body spray he could find. Even if he did have any lingering traces of Sasuke about him, it would be neutralised by the artificial scent surrounding him. It would be seen as a bit odd, but he was hoping that people would believe him when he told them that all Canadian werewolves were doing it.

After his shower, Naruto sprayed himself until he gagged, and then wrapped a towel round his waist and collected his soggy clothing before charging out of the bathroom, past his father, and into his bedroom.

Sakura and Kiba, who were sat on his bed, both raised an eyebrow and shot him identical questioning looks.

"Why do you smell like hay-fever's bigger, mean uncle?" Sakura asked, her eyes watering and nose wrinkling.

"Why are your clothes wet?" Kiba added.

"Because smelling like this means I don't smell of Sasuke, and I showered in them," Naruto replied, flopping back on the bed. They shifted to make room for him, and Naruto let out a small sigh. "I think I could sleep for a week."

"Yeah, all the sex the first few weeks is pretty intense," Kiba said. "I was pretty much erect the whole time."

Sakura snorted.

"Thank you for that mental image," Naruto said. "I was referring to the four hours sleep I have had in the last few days."

Kiba nodded. "The first few weeks is pretty much fucking and sleeping," he said.

Naruto raised his head and scowled at him. "Seriously? I know all this, mainly by all the fucking and sleeping I'm not doing because I can only be with my mate when the sun is down."

"I don't like grumpy Naruto," Sakura said, ruffling his hair. "I had to hang out with him yesterday; don't make me do it again today."

Naruto forced a smile onto his face; they were trying to help, and it wasn't their fault that fate had given him a vampire for a mate.

"Ugh, creepy!" Kiba exclaimed, hitting him with a pillow.

Naruto grabbed the pillow from him, threw it at his head, missed, and flopped back down onto the bed.

"Crap," he muttered, "I'm too tired to even stay pissed off at you."

Sakura rescued the pillow, and returned it to it's place on the bed. "Well, I tried to read the book," she said, sitting back down, "but the old Japanese to English dictionary I borrowed from my mum wasn't much help. I translated a few words, though." She pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket and handed it to Naruto.

Naruto peered doubtfully at the few lines. "Two Suns. Something about a bird. Possibly first person pronoun. Blue...What the hell?"

Sakura shrugged. "I tried," she said. "It's handwritten, and in another language and really, really old."

"Thank goodness for Karin," Naruto said, hoping that they would leave soon, and let him sleep.

"Who's Karin?" Sakura asked with a frown.

"Sasuke's friend. She can read Japanese, and wants to help with the book."

"Oh. That's convenient."

"I thought so. She used to be a werewolf."

"What?" Sakura and Kiba exclaimed in unison.

Despite everything, Naruto had to grin at their stunned expressions. "Yep, you can turn werewolves into vampires," he said.

"Are you going to get Sasuke to...you know?" Kiba asked after a moment.

"God, no!" Naruto said with a shudder of disgust. "I love Sasuke, but I don't want to be a vampire. Besides, my mum would kill me. Literally kill me."

Naruto stared up at the ceiling; Sasuke was asleep, and he wished he was beside him. He felt Sakura shift on the bed, and her hand caught his, squeezing gently.

"This is good," she said, "us all working together. We will end the feud once and for all, and you and Sasuke can be together."

Naruto frowned. "Karin said that she thought someone was making the feud worse," he said. "I don't know her; she may be some sort of conspiracy theory nut, but if she's right, whoever it is isn't going to like us trying to build bridges."

"_If _she's right, we'll deal with it." Sakura said firmly.

"If she's right, we're going to have to," Kiba added. "We could be like detectives." He grinned.

"Yeah, sure," Naruto said. "You go do that. I'm going to sleep until it's time to see Sasuke. Bring the book to the tree at dusk, 'K?" He yawned.

"Are you going to see Tsunade on Monday morning?" Sakura asked as she stood.

Naruto shrugged. "Probably. I liked working for her, and I guess I need a job." He really wished they would leave. Thinking was like trying to swim through syrup; he needed to sleep. He needed Sasuke. He buried his head in his pillow, and shifted around on the bed.

"You shouldn't sleep with wet hair," Sakura said as she closed the door behind them. Naruto didn't acknowledge her, because he was already asleep.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Sasuke woke from a deep slumber at midday to find his father standing at the foot of his bed, a grim expression on his face. That was never a good sign. He had showered until Karin could no longer smell Naruto on him when he had got home early that morning. If she couldn't smell werewolf on him, no one else would be able to, as Karin's sense of smell was far more acute than the average vampires. _And now I know why. _Sasuke thought grimly; he wished that his friend had trusted him enough to tell him before.

"Hello, father," Sasuke said, keeping his expression neutral. He couldn't risk his father finding out about Naruto; just because he didn't smell of wolf didn't mean that he wouldn't give it away some other way.

"Sasuke. Where were you all night?"

"I went for a run with Karin." Sasuke replied.

"All night?" Fugaku frowned. "Listen to me. You need to be very careful; I have had reports of werewolves on our land."

Sasuke widened his eyes as if in surprise. "What sort of reports?" He asked.

"Nothing substantiated, yet. But you need to be careful; we don't know what their agenda is. I will not allow them to get their hands on you. Once I find out who the treaty breakers are, I will make them rue the day they ever set foot on our land, and send them back to their pack elders in pieces. Until then, you need to be extra careful. No running with Karin."

Sasuke fought back a snarl at the thought of his father laying his hands on Naruto. He carefully schooled his expression to mild irritation.

"I can take care of myself, father," he said tightly.

"Against a pack of wolves?" Fugaku sniffed. "Madara thought the same, and look at where that got him. They fight dirty, like the filthy animals they are. Remember that, Sasuke. Do not defy me."

With that, he was gone. Sasuke scowled after him. He really needed to fix his door.

This was bad, very bad. His father probably expected Sasuke to defy him, because even if Sasuke wasn't desperate to see Naruto, he would go out that evening purely because he had been told not to. He hated it when his father tried to control his life this way. So he would be followed. There was no way he was risking anyone finding out about Naruto, but he couldn't not go and see him. He needed Naruto like he needed blood.

With a sigh, Sasuke got out of bed and dressed. He needed to find Karin. Hopefully the universe would stop screwing him over sometime soon.

He found Karin in bed, feeding; she didn't believe in locks. Anyone who walked in on her feeding was welcome to watch, join in, or leave. Before Naruto, Sasuke would have joined in, or at least watched. Now, the idea of touching someone who was not Naruto did not appeal. Watching was different; watching Karin eat out the girl spread on her bed while the guy behind her fucked her slowly was hot; the way the three of them writhed and moaned together had Sasuke's cock hardening painfully. Except, he didn't want to join them; he wanted Naruto. He ached for his mate. This whole mate bond was a bloody pain in the arse.

He quickly dived into Karin's bathroom, because jerking off while watching a ménage and thinking about his lover was perverse, even by Sasuke's standards. Instead of wanking, Sasuke willed his erection away, and waited for Karin to finish, not wanting to risk being caught. Not that he minded being seen, it just felt pathetic that he couldn't go a day without desperately needing Naruto. And if Karin caught him jerking off in her bathroom, she would know.

Sasuke sat down on the toilet seat and buried his head in his hands. Fuck his father and fuck everyone else. He was going to see Naruto tonight. Since he wasn't suicidal, all he needed to sort out was the how.

Eventually Karin wandered into her bathroom, looking very pleased with herself. Both her bed partners had been human, so Sasuke expected them to be passed out for some time. The only one who could really keep up with a vampire was another vampire. Or a werewolf, apparently.

"I just need a shower," she said, slipping past him.

Her lack of surprise at seeing him there suggested that she had noticed him slipping into the bathroom.

Sasuke waited while Karin showered, dried off, dressed, and then began blow drying her hair. He found himself grinding his teeth as Karin seemed intent on taking her time. The humans were passed out on her bed, completely dead to the world, but he didn't want to speak in front of them, just in case.

"You know you're completely insufferable today," Karin said as she switched her hair dryer off and wrapped the cord around the handle before slipping it into a drawer. "What's up, beyond the obvious?"

Sasuke glanced at the unconscious humans, and Karin rolled her eyes, before following him back to his room.

"What?" She said, once the door was closed behind them and propped with a chair to replace the broken lock.

"My father," Sasuke said tersely. "Apparently, word has got to him about werewolves on this side of the river; he thinks they're a danger to me, and he doesn't want us out running."

"Shit." Karin flopped down onto his bed. "You know, werewolves and vampires have been crossing the river for some time now. Strange how the news only gets to Fugaku now."

Coldness clenched in Sasuke's gut as he sat down next to her. "You think that this is someone trying to start the fighting again?" He asked.

Karin shrugged. "The timing's right," she said. "I mean, I know your dad and the older vampires are still hardcore against werewolves, but every one else, especially the vampires who have come here from elsewhere think the feud is stupid. If they want to cross the river, why not? Most of them don't even realise that it is forbidden in the terms of the treaty, and the ones that do don't care."

"How do you know all this?" Sasuke asked.

Karin grinned at him. "Because I'm not the coddled son of Fugaku Uchiha," she said. "No one cares where I go."

Sasuke smiled as a sudden idea struck him. "I think I know how we're going to sneak out tonight," he said.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

A hammering sound that threatened his sanity woke Naruto up. He sat up, bleary eyed and freezing, realising that he had fallen asleep on top of his bed wet and wearing nothing but a towel. He groaned deeply, and on instinct reached for Sasuke. His mate was frustrated and a little bit pissed off, which Naruto could more than relate to.

The hammering continued.

"Stop trying to break down my fucking door!" Naruto snarled.

"Oh, you're awake!" His father called out innocently through the door.

With a snarl, Naruto slipped some jeans on, and pulled the door open. With werewolf strength, his dad could easily break the door down if he wanted to; besides it wasn't even locked, which meant that he was being purposefully irritating.

Sure enough, the cheery smile on his face did not reach his eyes.

"What?" Naruto asked warily.

Minato shrugged, "Well, my son has returned after years away, and I've barely seen him," he said. "Naruto, you're coming home to sleep, and then vanishing again. You were out all night. I know you need to catch up with people, but I was out in town earlier today, and no one has seen you. What are you doing?"

Naruto forced a smile onto his face. His father was mainly easy going, but he supported his mate in everything. He couldn't risk telling his father about Sasuke yet. "Sleeping. Jet lag is a bitch." He lied. "You must have missed me coming in last night."

Minato's eyes narrowed. "I didn't," he said. "And why do you smell like a boudoir?"

"It's a Canadian tradition."

"It's making my eyes water. Tsunade has invited us to dinner tonight, by the way. I already accepted on your behalf."

"tonight like after dark tonight?" Naruto asked, his heart sinking. "I don't know, I still need to catch up on my sleep..."

He trailed off as Minato's expression darkened. "Naruto, I don't know what's going on with you; I have a feeling that I don't want to know, but believe me when I say that this dinner is more important than you know. You cannot miss it."

Naruto sighed. His dad was sweet and uncomplicated most of the time, which meant that everyone, Naruto included, forgot that the mellow exterior covered steel. His seat on the werewolf council was earned and more than deserved. If he said that Naruto could not miss dinner with Tsunade, it meant that he would not miss it. He hated that it would dip into the time that he had with Sasuke, but it couldn't be helped. Hopefully he could beg off early. Besides, part of him was suddenly curious; his father's words, _more important that you know,_ had him wondering what possible secrets would be imparted at dinner.

He had no choice. He would have to send Sakura and Kiba up to meet Sasuke and Karin, and follow up as soon as he was able.

"What time is dinner?" Naruto asked.

"Six thirty," his father replied, his smile returning. "I take it you'll be there?"

"Tsunade's place ,six thirty. I'll be there," Naruto replied.

Minato turned to go, before briefly pausing in the doorway. "I know a bit about having to keep secrets," he said, "and I don't know what you're doing exactly, but I'm not stupid. Be very, very careful."

Naruto nodded, his voice gone.

With a final, fleeting grin, Minato turned and left, leaving Naruto alone with his thoughts, and the feeling of Sasuke's growing anxiety. Naruto flopped onto his bed with a groan. Why did everything have to be so damn complicated?


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N: I'm so sorry for the late update! *hangs head in shame* To make up for the lateness, this chapter is a little longer than the ones before.**

**Big thanks go to all who have read or favourited this story, and huge massive thanks and hugs go to .fish, starsmoon1981, bridmatt, , missbip0lar, ToXicStArCaNdy, Sinfully Addicted, BadButt94, Byzantea & "Guest" who reviewed chapter Four :D**

** .fish; it really, really should be right now...if not, .fish is you, lol! Thank you for following this story ^^**

** bridmatt, it hasn't come up yet, but werewolves are only born, not made. However a wolf can breed with a non-wolf. When one parent is a werewolf and the other is a human, the werewolf genes are dominent, and the offspring will be a werewolf.**

**Here's Chapter Five, please let me know what you think ^^**

Chapter Five

Karin walked boldly out of the front door as soon as the sun went down. Being a made vampire, she had a better immunity to sunlight than a born vampire like Sasuke did. It was one of the few perks in a long list of negatives. The biggest problem she found with being a made vampire, apart from loosing her werewolf side, was the worry that her maker would return. The one big weakness of someone who was turned was that their maker could hold them in thrall if they chose. Considering how she was turned, it was a constant nagging worry, and the reason why the world wasn't overrun with vampires. Only pure vampires could breed but their fertility levels were ridiculously low, and very few people agreed to be turned when there was the risk of being turned into what was essentially a zombie.

But being a made vampire meant that she wasn't as important as the born vampires, so she walked out of the front door, and as Sasuke wasn't with her, no one gave a damn. Erring on the side of caution she wandered through the town, picked up a latte, and generally acted as if she had no where pressing to be. Once she was sure that no one was following her, she made her way to the meeting place. Sasuke would be along later; he had accompanied his brother and some other vampires to a club, staying safe while giving his father the finger at the same time. Fugaku would be pissed off, but not suspicious. As soon as he could, Sasuke was going to slip out and follow her to the meeting place.

Karin sighed; two days, and things were already becoming insanely complicated. She hadn't found her mate before she was turned but she knew how the bonding went. If Naruto and Sasuke couldn't be together in these critical few months after their initial mating, they would slowly go insane. Her heart ached for her friend; she missed her wolf side, but being a vampire was freeing. A part of her still longed for a mate, but she hoped that she never met him, not after seeing how Sasuke was suffering. She finished her coffee and decided to head up to the meeting place, hoping that Sasuke wasn't too far behind her. She did not relish the thought of explaining to a pissed off werewolf all the reasons why he couldn't go charging into a vampire club to find his mate.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Sakura gazed down the hill, feeling quite concerned; they had been at the tree since sunset, and so far Sasuke and his friend had yet to appear. She was quite glad that Naruto was held up at Tsunade's; the waiting was making her nervous, and her mate was sat beside her, flicking through the book. Naruto would likely be gnawing through the tree if he were there; either that or charging into the middle of the vampire side of town to find his missing mate.

"Are you sure we're in the right place?" She asked Kiba.

"This is the only old oak tree on a hill in a ten mile radius. I'm pretty sure it's the right place," he replied, placing a hand on her knee. "Naruto got caught up with something else, maybe the same is true for Sasuke."

"As long as he hasn't been found out," Sakura said. Although, if anything bad had happened to Sasuke, Naruto would know. But what if it had happened after they had left Naruto's house? What if, at that moment, he was fighting off dozens of vampires who had hurt his mate? Sakura forced the thought away; worrying would not help them. She plucked the book out of Kiba's hands, mainly for something to do. It was all gibberish, even if it had been in a language she could read it would have been hard to make out; the text was faded, and some of the pages frayed.

"Someone's coming," Kiba said, grabbing her wrist.

Sakura closed the book, and frowned at the red haired woman climbing the hill. She hoped it was Karin; if it wasn't, something had gone very wrong. Sasuke wasn't with the woman, and that made Sakura even more nervous. She rose to her feet, tucking the book behind her belt in case they had to react quickly. The damn thing was their only lead, even as useless as it was proving to be.

The woman stopped a few feet from them, eyeing them suspiciously. She quickly glanced around, as if she expected to see someone else, before returning her gaze to Sakura and Kiba.

"Are you Karin?" Sakura asked eventually.

"Who are you?" Was the immediate reply.

Sakura realised that the vampire, because she could definitely smell that the woman was a vampire, was as wary as they were. Either it was Karin, and Sasuke was delayed for some reason, or the vampires had found out, and sent a single vampire to the meeting place to intercept them. Sakura doubted that it was the latter, if they had been discovered, the place would be swarming with vampires.

"I'm Sakura, and this is my mate, Kiba," Sakura said. "Naruto said he told you about us."

"Where is he?" The woman asked.

"He was held up. Where's Sasuke?"

A wry smile appeared on the woman's face. "He was held up," she said. "I am Karin, by the way. I suppose it's a good thing that they're both delayed."

Sakura agreed. It would be no fun trying to keep one of them from charging after the other. She sat back down, and pulled the book out. "I suppose we should get to work while we're waiting," She said.

Karin hesitated a moment before closing the distance between them. She sat down cross-legged in front of Sakura, and held out her hand for the book. Sakura handed it to her, hoping that she would be able to read it; hoping that she could be trusted to tell the truth about the contents.

Karin caught her eye, and shot her a wry smile before she flicked the book open, and began to read.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Sasuke checked his watch, suppressing a wince; two hours of darkness had been wasted so far, and he didn't think that he would be escaping any time soon. He had accompanied his brother to The Flame, the only club in the town, thinking that he would be able to slip away quickly without anyone noticing. Normally Itachi and his lovers would pick up a human or three, and vanish for the evening. So far, that had not happened.

The Flame was called a club, but in reality barely classified when compared to it's counterparts in the cities. It was a big hall that had once been a barn, with a bar at one end, booths at the other and a large dance floor in the middle. It was owned by the Uchiha family, and was one of the top places to feed during the night when there wasn't anything going on at the main house. A few extra rooms had been added for those who liked to feed in private. It also doubled as the Scout Hut, and the venue for the productions by the local amature dramatics group. Nobody could say that Fugaku Uchiha wasn't an asset to the community.

Sasuke had grabbed a drink and sat down, expecting Itachi to move straight to the dance floor. Instead his brother, along with his two lovers, Neji and Hinata, sat down with him. Sasuke supposed that he should be thankful that the other vampires who had tagged along with them had vanished into the crowd, but he suspected that Itachi had his reasons for bugging him. Two hours later, his brother was still making small talk, the wry smile on his face proof that he knew Sasuke had somewhere he would rather be.

Hinata had long ago become bored; her eyes were tracking the dance floor, which had filled up since they had arrived. She was probably hungry, and Sasuke hoped that Itachi noticed this, soon. Neji was mainly watching Itachi; he had figured that he was playing with Sasuke and seemed content to just observe. Sasuke tried not to grind his teeth. If it had been just Itachi there, he might have considered telling him about Naruto, but it was rare to get Itachi alone without the other two present. Itachi didn't really care about werewolves one way or another, and Sasuke had the feeling that Hinata was the same, but Neji's father had been killed by werewolves back when the fighting had still been going on. It was a few centuries ago, but Sasuke knew that vampires could hold a grudge for a long, long time.

"Do you have somewhere to be?" Itachi asked, casually taking a sip of his drink.

"Not really, I just didn't expect it to be this busy this time on a Sunday night," Sasuke replied. "There are a lot of humans out tonight. I don't know about you, but watching them is making me hungry." He flicked his eyes to Hinata, and she nodded in agreement.

Unfortunately, He wasn't lying. The blood from Naruto hadn't been anywhere near enough to keep him full, and he was hungry again. He was tempted to take a bite of one of the humans writhing on the dance floor, although he knew that they could never taste as good as Naruto. He wanted to see Naruto; he was desperate to hold him. He liked to think that Itachi wouldn't be messing with him if he knew how badly Sasuke was suffering from being kept from his mate, but he could never be too sure; one of Itachi's favourite hobbies was Sasuke baiting.

"Not really," Itachi replied, Ignoring Hinata's pleading look. "We ate before we came out."

"We had sex before we came out," Hinata said. "I'm still hungry." Her eyes glazed as they tracked to the dance floor.

"You are being a bit mean, Itachi," Neji added. "I think it's sweet that Sasuke has found someone he wants to have more than a quick meal from."

Sasuke tried to hide his surprise, wondering how much they knew. They couldn't know that Naruto was a 'wolf, not with Neji looking at him with a slightly patronising grin on his face.

"I find it strange that Sasuke wants to keep it a secret," Itachi replied. His eyes narrowed, and he gazed at Sasuke thoughtfully.

Sasuke forced a smile. "Well, now you know," he said, "and I really have to go." He stood and began to slide out of the booth, but Itachi's hand on his wrist stopped him.

"Why are you being so secretive?" He asked.

Sasuke bit his lip; he didn't want to lie to Itachi, but there was no way he could tell the truth. "Because...ok, if you must know, he lives on the other side of the river. And his mother hates vampires."

Itachi exchanged looks with Neji and Hinata. Sasuke was quite impressed that he had managed to tell the truth without giving himself away; he hated lying to his brother.

"I really don't see what the problem is," Hinata said. "Just don't do anything stupid like turning him, and make sure he comes to see you. Can we please get someone to eat now?"

Neji was nodding in agreement. Itachi continued to look at Sasuke for a long moment, as if he suspected that there was more to the story. Sasuke maintained a bland expression, despite his brother's scrutiny.

Finally, Itachi sighed and looked away. "Just be careful," he said. "The last thing we need is for you to get caught sneaking around on the wrong side of the river. Werewolves and vampires have been ignoring the treaty for years, but now that father's aware of 'wolves on this side of the river, you can expect the werewolf council will know, as well."

"I'll be careful," Sasuke said, rising to his feet. The need to see Naruto was getting harder to ignore; in fact, it was so distracting that it wasn't until a lot later that he questioned Itachi's phrasing, and began to wonder how much his brother knew about the conspiracy Karin had mentioned.

He slipped out of a back entrance, just in case his father had someone watching the front, and hurried towards the meeting place. He was hungry, and should have really stopped to drink the blood of one of the many willing donors in the club, but his need to see Naruto was greater; an ache inside that made his hunger seem paltry and insignificant.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

It was still light out when Naruto and Minato left for dinner with Tsunade. Naruto was glad; hopefully they would be finished in a few hours and he could spend the rest of the evening with Sasuke. He had sent Sakura and Kiba to the meeting place, hoping that Sasuke wouldn't be too upset at him for being late. It wasn't like he could say no to Tsunade without a good excuse; besides, he was curious. His father's cryptic comments had him piqued; he hoped that whatever it was, it was worth cutting into his precious Sasuke time.

"So, have you heard anything from Mum?" He asked as they walked the short distance to Tsunade's house. As much as he loved his mother, he hoped that she stayed away a bit longer, at least until he had found some way to convince her that not all vampires were like the ones that had killed her cousins.

"Nothing; the last I heard, she was worried about her phone being traced, so I stopped calling her. I'm sure she's fine, though. She's far tougher than a few rogue vampires. Besides, if anything did happen to her, I would know."

Naruto nodded. He didn't doubt that she was tougher than the vampires; that was a big part of his problem. It reminded him, though, that he really needed to get a new phone now he was back in the country. At least that way he would be able to contact Sasuke during the day. He wondered how his father managed, being separated from his mate for such a length of time; every second Naruto was away from Sasuke was painful. He hoped that it was because they were newly mated. Maybe things got better the longer you were together. Or maybe you just got used to the pain. There was one way to find out; he glanced at his father, aiming for an expression that said casual.

"How do you manage with her being away?" He asked. "I mean, Kiba and Sakura were kept apart, and they hated it. I've heard that it gets harder after mating."

Minato didn't look surprised at the question. "Well," he said, "I don't exactly like her being away for years at a time; before I was on the council I would go with her when she went on a hunt. It's different to what happened with Kiba and Sakura; that was mainly due to their age, and as soon as they were mated no one would dream of keeping them apart. I suppose you should know this for when you do find your mate; the first year is critical. The mate bond is nothing as simple as just consummating the mating, or even having the ceremony. Being together strengthens the bond, until you're complete. It doesn't matter how far apart you are physically once the bonding is truly complete, you'll always be together."

A soft smile had formed on his face as he spoke, and Naruto envied him. That was what he had always thought the mate bond should be, and he wished that his own experience was more like that of his parents. They walked the rest of the way in silence.

Tsunade's house was large; she had owned it for close to 150 years, and the land it stood on for considerably longer, but as she was constantly modernising it, it fit in with the rest of the houses on the street, which had been built fairly recently. The outside of the house was immaculate, the lawn freshly mowed, and the boarder plants placed in military precision. There was not a weed to be seen. The only glaringly out of place item was the lime green 1978 VW camper parked haphazardly on the driveway. Tsunade's mate was slightly eccentric and had a taste for vintage items. Although, to be fair they weren't vintage when he brought them. Naruto thought it possibly had more to do with a magpie nature and a reluctance to throw anything away. A tendency that could prove problematic when you lived for centuries.

Tsunade opened the door before they had a chance to knock, and swept Naruto into a tight embrace. Naruto wasn't as prepared as he should have been, and was practically smothered by her ample breasts. He was gasping for breath as his father was subjected to the same treatment. Minato had either learned from his son's mistake, or been prepared; he stepped up into the house, so he was at eye level instead of breast level.

Once Minato had been released, Naruto was grabbed again, and dragged into the house. "I'm sorry to hear that you still haven't found your mate," Tsunade said as she lead him through the living room and straight into the dining room. "I'm sure that she's out there-"

"I've decided to stay in town for a while, if that's what you were subtly leading up to," Naruto said.

Tsunade shot him a quick grin. "Good," she said. "You'll meet your mate when you're ready and not before. There's no point running around the world searching."

She certainly had that right, Naruto thought. The whole time he had been looking for his mate, he was right there on the other side of the river. He smiled at Tsunade and glanced around the room. The table was laid for three, not four, he noted, and there was a jug of water instead of wine in the centre of the table. It was a sure sign that this dinner was more business than pleasure. He glanced at Tsunade, cocking his eyebrow questioningly. She shot him a conspiratory smile.

"I know you're probably dying to catch up with Jiraiya, but he's in the middle of doing extensive research at the moment." Which translated as she had him watching porn upstairs to keep him out of her way. Tsunade had very clear rules on separating work and family; the only reason that Naruto knew that she and Jiraiya were mated when he first started working with her was because they were close friends with his parents. As well as being the chief of police for their side of the river, Tsunade also had a seat on the council. Jiraiya mainly wrote dirty books. Naruto supposed that their mating was clearly a case of opposites attract.

Naruto sat next to his father as Tsunade placed plates in front of them; as she was a terrible cook, he wasn't surprised to see that she had just got take out from the local Chinese.

"So, are you buttering me up in preparation for offering me a cool new job?" Naruto asked as he dug into his fried rice.

"In a way," Tsunade said with a slight smile. Her expression turned serious a moment later. "Look, I would love this to be a social call, and I really do want to hear all about your travels, but the truth is, things here are not as good as they may seem."

Naruto frowned. He had been pretty caught up in Sasuke, but as far as he was aware, not a lot had changed while he had been away. "What do you mean?"

"It's the treaty, of course," Tsunade said after taking a sip of water. "It's always the damn treaty. After that bloody rogue that your mother found, we became more vigilant than we had been; that Fugaku claimed that the vampire had nothing to do with him, but it had been on his land for weeks before we noticed people going missing. I'm not prejudiced like some; I know that Fugaku is no fool. There's no way he wouldn't notice a killer on his land."

"What did the vampires say?" Naruto asked, wondering how much Sasuke had known about this. It gave him a horrible feeling, like snakes in his belly, that Sasuke would know that there was a vampire going around murdering people, and not do anything about it.

Tsunade snorted. "Not a lot of anything. That they would sort it. Meanwhile, two humans had shown up dead. That's when your mother decided to take matters into her own hands and go all vigilante. Anyway, after that, we started patrolling both sides of the river, and we noticed something. Werewolves hanging out in vampire bars, vampires on our side of the river. I have no idea how long it's been going on for, but all those involved are young."

"But is that necessarily a bad thing?" Naruto ventured. "I mean, if it proves that vampires and werewolves can coexist without violence..." he trailed off as Tsunade scowled at him.

"The council have agreed that it is a serious breach of the treaty," she said. "While I can see what you are saying in theory, I think that the main reason there is no violence is because no one wants to get caught. Anyway, that's not the worst part."

Since Naruto himself was guilty of breaking the treaty in several very serious ways, he was quite glad of this. "What's the worst part?" He asked.

"In some cases, it goes beyond a bit of childish curiosity. We think that some of the younger werewolves are idolising vampires, and trying to emulate them."

"Are you sure they're not just going through an emo phase?" Naruto asked.

"A criminal activity in it's own right," Minato muttered.

Tsunade's lips quirked in the ghost of a smile. "I admit, it could just be over protective parents; those involved are very young, barely past twenty. But their age is what makes them vulnerable. Naruto, I want you to befriend them, and see how serious this really is; they were children when you left, so none of them will connect you with me."

Naruto carefully put his fork down, sure that this was some sort of elaborate hoax. "You're saying that you want me to hang out with a bunch of kids. And you're going to pay me for this?"

"Naruto, this is a serious undercover operation. I'm hoping that this is hyperbole on the part of the parents, but there is a very real possibility that there is someone influencing these children."

Naruto sighed. As if he didn't have enough to worry about, Tsunade wanted him to be a babysitter. Although, it could possibly work in his favour.

"I'm going to need a place to stay." He turned to his father. "No offence, dad, but if these guys really are vampire obsessed, they're not going to trust Kushina Uzumaki's son. Preferably somewhere on the outskirts of town. New, loner wolf is the perfect persona to invite into their cult or whatever."

"Oh God, I hope it's not a cult." Tsunade muttered. "The council went nuts over the number of werewolves and vampires freely crossing the river. I've been able to keep this from them so far, but I need something concrete for the parents, one way or another. Otherwise they'll go to the council, who will overreact, and likely plunge us into world war three. One of my family farms is empty; I'll give you a good deal on the rent."

Naruto smiled. If he had a house out of the way, he had somewhere to take Sasuke without anyone getting suspicious about the vampire smell. If the kids were that obsessed, any remainder of Sasuke's presence would likely help him garner their trust. Plus, because he was undercover, it wasn't like Tsunade or his father could just drop in uninvited. It was like fate was offering to shower him off after shitting on him.

"You understand that this is top secret," Minato said. "Tsunade and I are the only council members who know. I think that you keeping a low profile over the last few days has worked out in our favour; I don't think that some of your friends even know you're back yet."

"I think we should keep it that way, at least for now," Tsunade added. She stood up from the table, and walked over to the large cabinet that occupied the length of one wall. She opened a draw, and pulled a few items out. The first she placed in front of Naruto was a mobile phone.

"This is a for work use only," she said. "Once you're set up with your cover, this is how we will stay in touch."

Naruto nodded. Finally, he would be able to exchange numbers with Sasuke. A glance out of the window showed the sun sinking. Tsunade seemed to be wrapping things up; hopefully he wouldn't end up being late to see Sasuke after all.

The next items Tsunade placed on the table were photographs. Two brown haired boys; one with an unflattering bowl cut and glasses, and a girl with copper hair. Naruto gazed at them searchingly for a long moment; they were no one he knew.

"These are the one's were sure of being involved; their parents are the ones that approached me to investigate. There could be more. Konohamaru is part of the Sarutobi family; Moegi and Udon are both from families who arrived here fairly recently. Moegi works in the cafe on Broad Street, the other two are jobless. They're all university students; one theory is that a fellow student put the idea of vampires being cool in their heads."

"The university isn't one that allows vampires and werewolves, is it?" Naruto asked.

Tsunade curled her lip. "No one from this town has ever attended a coed university, Naruto," she said.

They decided that Tsunade would show Naruto the house in the morning; she said that it needed some work, so Naruto was expecting it to be a bit of a dump. He didn't care, not if it meant he could see Sasuke inside. Tsunade handed him a folder; a stalker's paradise of character descriptions and common hang outs. He knew he was going to feel like a complete creep reading it. He was just getting ready to sneak out when Jiraiya came down the stairs, and insisted that they open a bottle of wine to celebrate his home coming. Naruto tucked the folder, phone and photos away with a sigh. There was no way he could decline; not without explaining about Sasuke. And as much as he trusted them, he wanted to build up to the whole vampire mate thing.

Eventually, he begged off with a headache. It was true; being apart from Sasuke was making his head pound. He had kept them company for hours longer than he should have, and he was beginning to feel resentful. Since, despite eating triple helpings at dinner, he was still feeling hungry, he grabbed some leftover noodles to tide him over. He hurried out of the house, feeling his headache receding the closer that he got to Sasuke. He wasn't as discreet as he could have been, dashing through town in an effort to get as close to Sasuke as soon as possible. Instead of taking the quickest route he knew to the tree, he followed the bond, the need to see Sasuke pulling him forward. It wasn't until he heard the gurgling of the water that he realised that he was at the river's edge.

Frowning, Naruto glanced around, wondering how he had managed to get to the river; he was standing in a field outside the town, and the tree was to his left, technically back the way he had come. But Sasuke was to his right. Naruto didn't pause to wonder at that, didn't recall that there was a bridge just a little way further up the river, didn't care that despite the fact that it was summer the evening was still cool. He jumped into the river, and waded across, intent on getting to Sasuke. It wasn't deep, only coming up to his waist, but the water was freezing. Naruto didn't care.

He dragged himself up onto the opposite bank, and continued to head towards Sasuke. He could see a figure on the other side of the field, and he knew it was him. He broke into a run, seeing Sasuke do the same. Knowing he was there, it felt like a weight lifting off of him. They met in the middle of the field, barely slowing down as they collided into an embrace. They sank to the ground, gripping each other tightly, lips meeting in a desperate kiss.

"Why are you wet," Sasuke asked, his lips trailing down Naruto's throat. His fangs ached to sink into him, but he held back, not sure that Naruto would be able to give blood again so soon.

"I crossed the river. I've missed you so much."

"I'm sorry I was late."

Naruto frowned at him. "I thought I was the late one," he said. He slid his hands under Sasuke's top, digging his fingers into his mate's smooth skin.

"You were late? Why? Has someone found out?" Sasuke pulled away, staring into Naruto's eyes, panicked at the thought.

"No, I just had a meeting that I couldn't get out of. I think it went well. Why were you late?"

Sasuke scowled. "My father doesn't think it's safe for me to be out alone. I had to escape from my brother."

"Shit," Naruto muttered, running his fingers through Sasuke's hair. "Do you think any of them know about us?"

"My brother thinks I have a human lover; my father knows nothing."

"Good," Naruto said, capturing Sasuke's lips in another kiss. He felt his mate's body melt against him, and groaned. "I want you so badly," he said, sliding his hand between them to grasp Sasuke's cock.

Sasuke gasped. He had been half hard most of the way there, the anticipation of seeing Naruto burning in his veins. Now he was erect and aching, longing for Naruto. "I sent Karin ahead," he said in a half hearted protest, "and your friends are going to be there. We should really-" He broke off with a groan as Naruto squeezed his dick.

"Fuck them," Naruto snarled harshly. "I have to have you now; you can feel it too. I can barely think anymore."

Sasuke could feel it; all his life, he had needed sex as a means of sustenance. He had never, ever needed someone the way he needed Naruto. Their kisses became harder, and Sasuke groaned at the taste of blood as one of his fangs caught Naruto's lip. Naruto pulled away, a smear of blood left enticingly on his lip. Sasuke longed to taste it; lust and hunger twisting inside him. Naruto grinned, and then winced. Before Sasuke could ask him what was wrong, they were kissing again, Naruto's tongue deep in his mouth. Sasuke could taste blood again; Naruto had bitten his tongue. For some reason he found that oddly touching, and incredibly arousing. He sucked on Naruto's tongue, wanting to taste as much of his blood as possible before his saliva closed the wound up.

Their clothing seemed to melt away as they continued to kiss; Sasuke allowed himself to be pushed onto his back, and felt a cool wetness at his hole. Naruto must have brought lube with him. He groaned as Naruto entered him; with barely any preparation the penetration stung, but in a good way. He briefly wondered when it would be his turn to top; he was pretty versatile, as most vampires were, but Naruto seemed to be more of a top. That was fine, but Sasuke had already been forced to give up sex with girls; he was not going to give up the feeling of sinking his cock deep into another man. Especially when that man was Naruto. His cock ached at that thought, then all thought was beyond him as Naruto began to move.

Sasuke arched his back, and dug his nails into Naruto's flesh, clinging on as Naruto pounded into him. As had happened every time with Naruto, he could feel the energy, but couldn't reach out to feed from it. He was so hungry that he was tempted to try, but every time he did, his focus shattered. He gave up, instead riding the feeling of being connected to Naruto. It wasn't enough; he needed more. If he could climb into Naruto, and become one with him that way, he would.

"Bit me," Naruto groaned into his ear, twisting his neck to expose his throat.

Sasuke should have refused; he didn't know if it was different for werewolves, but no human could be a daily supply of blood. And until he knew for sure, he should treat Naruto as if he were a human blood donor. But he was so hungry, and the thought of feeding from Naruto while they were fucking had him close to coming. He opened his mouth, let his fangs extend to their full length, and sank them into Naruto's flesh.

Naruto cried out, and gave a few more deep thrusts before coming hard. Sasuke followed him, the taste of his blood and the feeling of him coming undone pushed him over the edge. He allowed himself a few more seconds of Naruto's blood, before licking the wound closed, and returning his mouth to Naruto's.

They kissed for a while, just savouring the taste of each other, hands softly caressing and exploring. Eventually Naruto broke the kiss so he could speak.

"So, I suppose we should catch up with the others," he said.

Sasuke snorted. "Fuck them," he said.

"No, only ever you," Naruto replied, grinning.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, and ran his fingers through Naruto's blond locks. He wondered what he would look like in the sunlight,feeling a pang of regret that he would never get to see it.

"As much as I would like to just stay here with you, it won't sort out our problems in the long term," he said.

Naruto sighed. "Yeah, I suppose. I wonder if Karin has been able to make any sense out of that book." He leaned away from Sasuke to grab his clothing, while still keeping their legs tangled together. Getting undressed had been far easier than getting dressed while trying to keep as much body contact as possible. It was strange, but Sasuke felt so much better just from the simple fact that he now had Naruto's scent on him. He was already dreading the necessity of washing it off later. He would have suggested changing into their animal forms; he had yet to see Naruto as a wolf, and he was curious, but the chances of them not being able to find their clothes later, even with vampire and werewolf senses, was quite high.

They walked slowly to the meeting place, hand in hand. There was still quite a few hours of night left, and they were both enjoying just being in each other's company. It was peaceful, and right. The peace couldn't last; Naruto let out a sigh of regret as they reached the bottom of the hill, and Sakura called out to them.

"I really don't want to share you with anyone tonight," Naruto said ruefully. The look in Sasuke's eyes reflected the sentiment. "But if it helps us to be together without all the sneaking around, I guess I can live with it."

Then Sakura was at the bottom of the hill, grabbing Naruto's wrist and pulling him upwards, babbling excitedly. Naruto allowed himself to be pulled, tugging Sasuke along with him, and tried to dredge up his usual level of enthusiasm for a mystery.


End file.
